British Airways stutters as sister units power IAG traffic gain

Bloomberg

British Airways owner IAG SA’s Irish and Spanish businesses spurred gains in passenger traffic at the company last year as expansion at the UK arm slowed.
Dublin-based Aer Lingus, purchased by IAG in 2015, posted a
12 percent traffic increase, while the advance at Madrid-based Iberia accelerated to 7.6 percent, according to a statement from the group.
London-based IAG, as International Consolidated Airlines Group SA is known, has been pouring resources into a turnaround of Iberia and Aer Lingus, historically two of Europe’s worst-performing carriers.
BA’s traffic growth slipped to 1.5 percent as it almost froze capacity to combat a glut in seats and bolster fares. The unit’s earnings have begun to recover from 2016’s Brexit vote, which triggered a slump in the pound, reducing the value of sales converted into euros, IAG’s reporting currency.
Expansion also slowed at Barcelona-based discount carrier Vueling, which reported a 3.8 percent increase in traffic, a measure of passengers carried times the distance flown that’s a standard airline-performance indicator.
IAG’s overall traffic also rose
3.8 percent, slowing from a 4.5 percent gain in 2016, while the passenger tally was up 4.1 percent to almost 105 million.
The company didn’t break out figures for its Level unit, a low-cost, long-haul operation that has begun flying from Barcelona and plans to add services from Paris this year. The unit’s traffic is currently included with Iberia’s numbers.