IAG traffic rises in November, OpenSkies to cease operating

British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group reported a rise in traffic for November as it announced that its French airline OpenSkies will cease to operate at the end of next summer.

Group traffic, as measured in revenue passenger kilometres, increased by 7% compared to the same month last year in November. Meanwhile, group capacity measured in available seat kilometres was up 4.7%.

The company said premium traffic for the month of November was up 7.3% compared to last year.

In addition, IAG, which also owns Vueling and Aer Lingus, said all of its OpenSkies staff will transfer to its budget long-haul airline Level once operations have ceased. Level is due to launch a new route from Barcelona to Boston in March 2018 and will add a third A330-200 aircraft to its Barcelona fleet later in the summer.

At 1540 GMT, IAG shares were down 0.2% to 618p.