IAG traffic rises 11% in April

British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines said group traffic, as measured in revenue passenger kilometres, rose 10.9% in April from last year.

The airline, which also owns Aer Lingus and Vueling, said group capacity measured in available seat kilometres rose 10.7%.

On a pro-forma basis, group traffic was up 2.8% and group capacity was 2.6% higher.

Meanwhile, group premium traffic for the month of April increased 4.4% on a pro-forma basis.

The load factor – which measures how full flights were – nudged up to 78.6% from 78.4% in April 2015.

Back in April, Iberia said it will start services from Madrid to Shanghai on 28 June. This will be the airline's first destination in Asia followed by Tokyo on 18 October.

Iberia will operate three flights a week to Shanghai on its A330-200 fleet.