The British/Spanish company carried 112.9 million passengers last year, an increase of +7.7% over 2017, and with a load factor of 88.3%, an increase of +0.7%.
Iberia achieved a year on year increase in traffic of 11.7%.
As well as Iberia (including Iberia express), two other airlines of the group, Aer Lingus and Vueling, contributed to this growth with a 9.8% increase in traffic, while British Airway´s traffic increased 3.3%.
The marked improvement in Iberia’s activity reflects a better performance than British Airways, given that its load factor has risen 1.6 points to 85.7%, while that of British Airways has risen 0.7% to 82.5%. Thus Iberia is also the airline in the group which has registered the highest average load factor in the whole of 2018, even above Vueling, which remains at 85.4%.
On another issue, Brussels has rejected IAG’s idea for continuing to operate in a Brexit no deal scenario. IAG has encountered Brussel´s opposition to its plans to continue operating freely in Europe in the case of a no deal Brexit by arguing that Iberia is a Spanish, and therefore EU, company. The company´s main trump card has been the argument about the voting rights, which are mainly in Spanish hands. IAG has sought to show that more than 50% of the voting rights in Iberia are controlled by El Corte Inglés and that this makes it Spanish, but they have not convinced the European Commission. The economic control is held one hundred percent by IAG.
