British Airways Owner IAG Reports Solid Profits

British Airways owner, International Airlines Group, has reported a 55% increase in operating profit to €380m for the three months ending in June.

IAG's net profits stood at €280m (£222.6m, $374.9m) for the period, bouyed up by a turn-around in the fortunes of Spanish carrier Iberia, which BA merged with in 2011, and which saw its first profit since the merger. Iberia reported earnings of €16m for the first six months of this year. It made a loss of €35m for the same period last year.

IAG has cut some 3,000 jobs from Iberia and intends to shed a further 1,427, as it continues a restructuring plan that the group expects will lift its yearly operating profits by €500m from the previous year's €770m.

The group is also adding to its fleet, with Iberia to get eight new Airbus A350-900 once these are available later this year, and a further eight A330-200s.

British Airways' fleet has also been revamped with the introduction of more A380 superjumbos and Boeing 787 Dreamliner long-range jets.

Passenger numbers for the company also jumped, as they rose from 29,137 to 35,480.

"This performance shows that we are making further solid progress," said Willie Walsh, CEO for IAG.

"Our disciplined approach to capacity continues and we will make reductions where it makes sense as we go through the year."

Last year Walsh admitted that it might have been prudent to have held off on the 2011 BA-Iberia merger.

Shares for IAG were up by over 1% in early morning trading as the rose to 334.60p. However, they have been gradually decreasing in value since its February 26 peak when they stood at 454.60p.