IAG traffic and capacity expand further

British Airways owner IAG reported further growth in capacity and passenger traffic for December.

Looking at traffic, there was a 6.1% year-on-year increase in revenue passenger kilometres to 7,670, after growth of 7.6% and 4.4% growth in November and October. Premium traffic rose 3.9% following gains of 7.9% and 4.4% in the two preceding months.

Capacity across the group, which is measured in available seat kilometres, swelled 4.0% for the second month in a row.

After plans were announced at the end of December, this week the group acquired assets and invest in Niki, a former part of the collapsed Air Berlin group, which will form a new Austrian arm of IAG's Vueling Spanish budget brand.

The purchase €20m of assets from the Austrian airline will be accompanied by up to €16.5m of liquidity to Niki. The assets include up to 15 Airbus A320 aeroplanes and an "attractive" portfolio of slots at various airports including Vienna, Dusseldorf, Munich, Palma and Zurich.