LONDON (Alliance News) - International Consolidated Airlines Group SA on Thursday said group traffic, capacity and premium traffic all rose in July, as it made progress on the expansion of Aer Lingus' transatlantic network.
IAG - which owns British Airways, Ireland's Aer Lingus, and Spanish carriers Iberia and Vueling - said its group traffic measured by revenue passenger kilometres rose 16% when compared to a year earlier. Group capacity measured in available seat kilometres also rose 14%.
On a pro-forma basis, traffic rose 5.6%, whilst capacity rose 4.6%. Group premium traffic rose 6.1% in July, also on a pro-forma basis.
Meanwhile, load factor rose 1.1 percentage points to 86.8% when compared with a year earlier. On a pro-forma basis, this was a 0.8% rise.
IAG reported the traffic figures on a pro-forma basis to adjust for its acquisition of Aer Lingus last August.
In July, IAG said it had converted two Airbus 330-300 long-haul aircraft options into firm orders for Aer Lingus. On Thursday the company said these aircraft will be delivered in 2017, which will facilitate expansion on Aer Lingus' transatlantic network.
Shares in IAG were up 1.6% at 394.40p on Thursday afternoon.
Low-cost airline easyJet PLC earlier Thursday had reported reported growth in both passenger numbers and load factor year-on-year in July, whilst on Wednesday, rival budget airlines Ryanair Holdings PLC and Wizz Air Holdings PLC also had reported their traffic statistics for the month.
Irish carrier Ryanair Wednesday said the number of customers it carried grew by 12%, as load factor rose by one percentage point to 96% from 95%, whilst Wizz Air reported a 16% rise in passengers, while load factor remained flat at 92.7%.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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International Airlines (IAG)