A strong performance from British Airways has helped parent company IAG to increase pre-tax profits to €609 million for the third quarter of the year.
IAG, which also owns struggling Spanish carrier Iberia, saw pre-tax profits rise by 157 per cent from a profit of €237 million for the same quarter in 2012.
The company said that revenue rose by 6.9 per cent to €5.4 billion for the three months to the end of September.
British Airways made an operating profit of €477 million during the quarter (up from €268 million last year) while Iberia made a profit of €74 million (up from €1 million in 2012).
IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said: “British Airways’ performance continues to benefit from a strong London and transatlantic market as well as a €100 million revenue bounce-back from the Olympic effect last year. In addition, the airline has maintained its focus on cost control.”
Walsh added that Iberia had “improved” its performance but had to “continue to implement its restructuring plan and reach agreement on productivity changes to bring about long term sustainable profits and growth”.
IAG made a pre-tax profit of €103 million during the first nine months of the year compared to a loss of €121 million for the same period of 2012. Revenue was up by 3.9 per cent to €14.1 billion year-on-year.