British Airways’ parent company IAG records surge in profits

Its passenger revenue per available seat kilometre flown increased by 3.1 per cent, while fuel costs per unit declined by 5.2 per cent.

It is proposing to pay a final dividend to shareholders for 2024 which will take the total payments to $435m (£359m).

IAG chief executive Luis Gallego said: “These results highlight the quality of our businesses and effectiveness of our strategy, underpinned by the successful execution of our transformation programme across the group.

“We are delivering world-class margins and returns, in line with the targets we set out to the market just over a year ago.

“We are focused on continuing to make our brands the first choice for customers, by growing our network and enhancing the customer proposition, while our disciplined capital allocation ensures we can continue to invest in the business, deliver strong financial results and create sustainable value for our shareholders.

“We are particularly pleased to announce that IAG is proposing a final dividend which takes our total dividend for the year to 435 million euros and intend to return up to a further one billion euros (£826m) of excess capital to shareholders in up to 12 months.”

IAG recorded a revenue growth of 9.0 per cent, which it said was driven by “our market-leading network, strong brands and operational focus”. British Airways made an operating profit of £2.0bn, up from £1.3bn in 2023. IAG, which also owns the Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Level airlines, said the group’s available seat kilometres – a measure of its capacity – grew by 6.2 per cent in 2024.