IAG traffic up in August but BA and Vuelling buck trend

British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group reported a rise in traffic in August.

The airline, which also owns Aer Lingus and Vuelling, said group traffic as measured in revenue passenger kilometre was up 1.2% last month versus August last year.

Group capacity measured in available seat kilometre rose by 0.4%, while premium traffic increased by 1.9% in August compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the load factor - which gauges how full the planes are - ticked up to 86.5% from 85.9% in August 2016.

Traffic at BA and Vuelling slipped 0.6% and 5.2%, respectively, while Iberia saw traffic rise 6.5% in August and Aer Lingus posted a 10.2% jump.

Back in July, the company reported a 14% rise in first-half operating profit and said it expected profit for the year to increase by a double-digit percentage. Operating profit in the six months to the end of June rose to €898m from €789m in the same period a year ago, as total revenue increased 0.9% to €10.9bn. Meanwhile, pre-tax profit came in at €706m, up 28.6%.

At 1530 BST, the shares were down 1.2% to 596.25p.