Long-haul business traffic boosting British Airways and Iberia parent company International Airlines Group’s performance.
Group premium traffic was up by more than a quarter in June over the same month last year while economy customer numbers grew by a more modest 6.7%.
While this needs to be assessed in the context of strikes by BA cabin crew and network restructuring at the Spanish carrier, IAG said: “We believe underlying revenue trends are in line with previous months, with demand continuing to show firm underlying growth particularly in the long-haul premium segment.”
Combined domestic traffic in both the UK and Spain was the major cloud in the June figures, showing a drop of more than 15% year on year.
The overall number of passengers carried in the month was up by 3.8% to 4.525 million with routes to North America, Asia/Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean showing the strongest growth.