International Airlines Group (IAG), owner of British Airways and Iberia, has posted third quarter pre-tax profits of more than €2 billion ($2.1 billion), an increase of 15.4% on the same period in 2023.
On November 8, 2024, IAG said that, based on the company’s latest financial results, it expects its “strong financial performance to continue for the rest of the year”.
Luis Gallego, IAG CEO, said: “We achieved a very strong financial performance in Q3 2024, with a 15.4% increase in operating profit compared to the same period last year and improving our margin to 21.6%. This is due to the effectiveness of our strategy and Group-wide transformation.”
IAG, which also owns Vueling, Aer Lingus, LEVEL, IAG Loyalty and IAG Cargo, reported revenues of €9.33 billion ($10.1 billion) for the quarter, representing a 7.9% rise from 2023 levels.
The company said that revenue increases were due to “higher passenger revenue, with an improvement in Cargo revenue and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) revenue at Iberia”.
IAG described the North Atlantic region as a “major area of strength” with an increase in capacity of 3.9% and passenger unit revenue of 3.5% over the quarter.
“Within this, unit revenue at British Airways was particularly strong whilst Aer Lingus saw a negative impact from the pilots’ strike as well as increased competitor capacity to Dublin,” IAG said.
The company added: “All of our short-haul airlines saw good demand and revenue performance across Europe in the quarter.”
Additionally, IAG expects four new aircraft to be delivered in the fourth quarter and capacity to increase by around 5%, and for the full year by around 6%.