Iberia reported a sharp drop in post tax profits for the first half of 2008.
Its consolidated post tax income for January to the end of June fell to 20.7m, a drop of 72.3% on the 74.8m figure for the same period in 2007.
The Spanish flagship said its second quarter post tax profit fell by 66.2% from 62.6m in 2007 to 21.2m this year.
For the second quarter the airline also posted a loss of 32.2m on its pre-tax operating income, a 146% drop on the 70m profit for the same six months in 2007.
The airline said it made a profit of 6.3m from all operating activities for the six months. This is a 93.6% fall on the 98.6m profit for the same period in 2007.
Iberia said that fuel costs had risen by 199.5m compared with a year ago. Fro the first six months, they now stood at 732.1m, 30.4% of total costs and a 37% increase from last year.
Iberia said that passenger revenue had dropped by 1.5% in the six months but its long haul services had grown to a load factor of 85.3% and now accounted for 63.1% of total traffic.
The number of passengers using business class had also grown by 4.1% year on year.
Iberia is currently in merger talks with BA and is also part of a possible application with BA and American Airlines for anti-trust immunity to the US Department of Transportation.
Egencia reports rise in bookings
Egencia, the online business travel agency owned by Expedia, reported a 16% rise in bookings for the second quarter of 2008.
The agency, formerly Expedia Corporate Travel, said the bookings in North America rose by 10% while those in Europe increased by 30% compared to the same three months in 2007.
It said it had also opened a launched an agency in Australia. It follows recent launches in China, Ireland and the Netherlands.