Airline group IAG profit rises on Iberia recovery, new planes

Madrid.—British Airways owner International Airlines Group reported a 55 percent rise in second-quarter profit driven by a recovery at Spanish airline Iberia and signalled its confidence in the carrier with plans to renew its long-haul fleet.
Iberia, which has undergone a deep restructuring to cut staff and costs, will start receiving eight Airbus A350-900s and another eight A330-200 aircraft next year, IAG said yesterday.
The Spanish airline swung to a second-quarter operating profit from a year-ago loss and is on track to return to profit for the full year for the first time since 2008.
“This performance shows that we are making further solid progress,” IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh told reporters.  IAG, Europe’s second-largest airline by market value, stuck to its annual profit target, unlike rival former state-owned carriers Lufthansa and Air France-KLM which have both issued profit warnings in recent weeks.