IAG traffic up in August, but load factors nudges lower

(ShareCast News) - British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group said group traffic rose in August but the load factor nudged lower.Group traffic as measured in revenue passenger kilometres rose 7.9% in August from the same month last year to 24.48m passengers. Year-to-date, traffic was up 18.9% to 67.89m. The airline, which also owns Aer Lingus and Vueling, said group capacity as measured in available seat kilometres, was up 9%.On a pro-forma basis, group traffic was up 2.5% and group capacity was 3.9% higher.Meanwhile, group premium traffic for the month of August increased by 3.4% on a pro-forma basis.However, the load factor - which measures how full flights were - slipped to 85.9% from 86.7% in August last year.IAG made a number of agreements with other airlines during the month. Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism granted an extension of anti-trust immunity to enable Iberia to join the existing joint business between Japan Airlines, British Airways and Finnair.This means the four airlines can cooperate commercially on flights between Europe and Japan.In addition, Vueling and Qatar Airways launched a codeshare agreement which allows seamless connectivity via the airlines' common gateways of Barcelona El Prat and Rome Fiumicino. The agreement links Vueling's European network with Qatar Airways' global network of more than 150 destinations.Finally, British Airways announced a codeshare agreement with Shanghai-based carrier, China Eastern Airlines, which allows it to gain access to the domestic Chinese market as it will start selling flights to Kunming, Xi'an, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Chongqing on a BA flight code.China Eastern Airlines will sell British Airways flights to Aberdeen, Belfast City, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle on their MU flight code. At 1544 BST, IAG shares were down 0.2% to 392.18p.