London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Sep 19, 2025

British Airways' owner IAG raises profit guidance as it sees capacity at 97% of pre-pandemic level

British Airways' owner IAG raises profit guidance as it sees capacity at 97% of pre-pandemic level

The company says demand for international travel is high despite the squeeze on family budgets while falling fuel prices are also helping improve its profits outlook.
The parent company of British Airways has raised its forecast for annual operating profits due to stronger bookings, saying it expects capacity to be at 97% of the 2019 pre-pandemic year.

International Airlines Group (IAG), which also counts Iberia and Aer Lingus among its stable of brands, said its focus on restoring earnings on key transatlantic routes was paying off.

The company said leisure travel was the driving factor while lower fuel prices were boosting its bottom line.

It reported that Latin America and North America traffic had already exceeded the levels seen before the COVID public health emergency kicked in to devastate international travel.

Revenue over the first three months of the year, its first quarter, came in at a better than expected €5.9bn (£5.2bn) compared to the €3.4bn (£3bn) achieved in the same period last year as flying abroad was getting back in gear.

It reported a small first quarter operating profit before exceptional items of €9m (£7.9m). Financial analysts had expected to see losses, as are typical for the three-month period, of almost €180m (£157.4m).

The group said that it now expected annual profit to come in above the top end of a €1.8bn (£1.6bn) to €2.3bn (£2bn) range given in February.

At the top level, such a performance would represent an improvement of 90% on 2022.

It called the outlook for the summer "encouraging".

The update chimes with reports from rivals that demand for holidays abroad is high despite the impact of the cost of living crisis on family budgets.

Shares rose by 4% at the open.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said of the figures: "British Airways owner, IAG, has landed a first quarter underlying operating profit for the first time since 2019.

"While all pandemic headwinds aren't fully in the rear-view mirror, namely that business travel, which IAG is highly exposed to, remains sluggish, the group's in much better shape overall."

She added: "Being more long-haul focused, it has taken a very long time for normality to come into view for IAG, but all things considered, back-to-normal is now officially on the menu.

"The main fly in the ointment is continued workforce disputes at major hubs, including Heathrow, which could dent demand and brand appeal if queues and disruption are worse than expected going into the important summer season."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×