International Airlines Group (IAG) have carried 112.9 million passengers in 2018, up 7.7% from the previous year, IAG announced on January 8. It is the first time the five major airlines within IAG have cleared 110m passengers.
Capacity increased 7.1% to 324.808m Available Seat Kilometers.
Strongest growth happened to Iberia and low-cost airline LEVEL, with Revenue Passengers Kilometers (RPK) + 11.7% to 61.354m. The two airlines also had the highest load factor at 85.7%, +1.6% over 2017.
Aer Lingus and Vueling both saw RPKs increase by 9.8%. At Spanish LCC Vueling to 31.973m, at the Irish airline to 23.516m. Load factor at Aer Lingus dropped slightly by 0.1%.
IAG’s biggest member, British Airways, realized a 3.3% increase in RPK to 152.177m, with load factors +0.7% to 82.5%.
Cargo tonne kilometers grew in December, but over twelve months slipped 0.9% to 5.713m. IAG will publish its full-year 2018 results on February 28.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
