IAG profit jumps as passenger revenue rises

A 14% growth in passenger revenue saw International Consolidated Airlines Group’s operating profit before exceptional items jump 68%.

The FTSE 100 airline group on Friday released its results for the year to 31 December 2015.

It showed passenger revenue rose from €17.8bn (£14.0bn) to €20.4bn for the year, while total revenue was up from €20.2bn to €22.9bn.

It posted an operating profit before exceptional items of €2.34bn, up from €1.39bn the previous year.

Passenger unit revenue per available seat kilometre (ASK) jumped 5.4% from 7.08 euro cents to 7.46 euro cents.

It also proposed a 10 euro cent per share final dividend, bringing the total dividend for the year to 20 cents.

IAG said it expects to generate an absolute operating profit increase similar to 2015 at the end of this year, with revenue trends in the first quarter of 2016 broadly in line with those in the last quarter of 2015.

Chief executive Willie Walsh said it’s a strong set of full year results, including Aer Lingus’ €35m contribution to operating profit since it joined the group in August.

"These results are in line with our recent target and have exceeded our original 2015 operating profit target of €1.5 billion that we set in 2011,” he said.

“It's undoubtedly been a good year but it's also been challenging with extreme volatility in the currency and fuel markets. The benefits gained from lower fuel prices have been partially offset by the stronger US dollar.”