Pre-tax profits of IAG, the owner of British Airways jumped by 22.5% to £1 billion in the three months to September owing to the descending fuel prices.
Revenue at this company that also is the owner of Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling Airlines increased by 2% triggered by 7.9% growth in its cargo division. Willie Walsh who is the chief executive said that all their companies had performed really well though there has been a disruption from severe terrorism and also climate conditions.
Though the international oil prices had risen in the period, the fuel costs of IAG had descended by 6.7% on account of successful hedging.
The company would be paying an interim dividend of 12.5 euro cents per share, up 13% on last year.
Though the numbers have been quite optimistic and reveals a bit prosperity, the shares had plunged about 4% to 644 p, probably because investors were hoping for a more bullish prediction of full-year earnings before exceptional items.
British Airways had suffered IT failure in May that had left 75,000 customers stranded and cost €65 million in compensation claims and knocked £360 million off the market cap of IAG. In March, IAG had launched Level.
Level is a low-cost airline that has flights from Barcelona to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
Pre-tax profits in the nine months to September were up 21.7% to €1.8 billion while the revenues increased by 1.3% to €17.5 billion.
