British Airways owner IAG's earnings soared in recent months

Total revenues rose to 9.3 billion euros (£7.7bn), up 7.9 per cent from 8.6 billion euros (£7.1bn) last year.

IAG also announced a 350 million euros (£291m) share buyback scheme, adding that it expects its “strong financial performance to continue for the rest of the year”.

Fuel costs were 4.2 per cent lower than the previous year, due to lower average prices and more efficient aircraft deliveries, IAG said.

Chief executive Luis Gallego said: “We achieved a very strong financial performance in Q3 2024, with a 15.4 per cent increase in operating profit compared to the same period last year and improving our margin to 21.6 per cent.

“This is due to the effectiveness of our strategy and group-wide transformation.

“We are also delivering on our commitment to provide sustainable returns for shareholders.

“Demand remains strong across our airlines and we expect a good final quarter of 2024 financially.”

Mr Gallego said IAG is “absorbing all the inflationary costs with good cost control”, and is “improving operational performance”, with British Airways punctuality improved by 10 per cent compared with a year earlier.

He said the North Atlantic market is “very strong” for British Airways, with IAG recording a 3.9 per cent boost in capacity for the routes year-on-year, and a 3.5 per cent increase in revenue.

The proportion of seats filled on those flights – known as the load factor – rose by 2.2 percentage points to 89.1 per cent.

Aer Lingus saw a “negative impact” for its North Atlantic flights due to the pilots’ strike and increased competition at Dublin airport.

Richard Hunter, Head of Markets at interactive investor, commented: “The British Airways owner is now firmly in the ascendancy, and the surprise announcement of a 350m euros share buyback programme is a further reflection of a company on a strongly recovering flight path.

“Significant cash generation has helped IAG in dealing with arguably the biggest thorn in its side, namely net debt, which represents an overhang from the days of the pandemic when the group was forced to ratchet up borrowings to survive.”

He continued: “Revenues were boosted by improvements across the piece, with stronger contributions from higher passenger and cargo numbers, as well as from one of its alternative sources of income, Iberia’s third party maintenance, repair and overhaul business.

"Operating margin also rose to 21.6 per cent from 20.2 per cent, including an uplift of 5.4 per cent at British Airways.

He added: “More broadly, the ferocity of competition and economic pressure remain as potential headwinds, as do some of the other issues which have historically blighted the sector, such as virus outbreaks, industrial action, volcanic dust clouds and higher fuel costs.”