Premium travellers boost BA group

29 July 2011 Last updated at 08:46 GMT International Airlines Group CEO Willie Walsh: "It's good to be back in the black"

International Airlines Group (IAG), formed by the merger of BA and Iberia, has swung to a first-half profit of 39m euros (?34m), boosted by a rise in premium travellers.

That compared with a 419m-euro loss made in the same period a year earlier.

But it said fuel costs had risen 34.8% to 2.4bn euros in the six-month period and said that fuel was still a "significant issue".

The company expects its annual fuel bill to total 5.2bn euros.

BA and Iberia completed their merger in January this year.

'Significant growth'

Revenues for the half-year rose 17.9% to 7.8bn euros.

The company also reduced its net debt by almost a half to 480m euros.

IAG said it had seen "continued strength in premium markets", adding that while its long-haul business was stable, the short-haul European market remained "highly competitive".

"We expect significant growth in operating profit this year, with improvements in both our unit revenue and unit cost performance versus 2010 and are on track to reach our synergy targets," IAG said.

But it said it expected the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East to reduce its operating profit for the year by 90-100m euros.

Charles Stanley analyst Douglas McNeill said: "These are good results at the upper end of expectations but the year-ago period was depressed by the ash cloud crisis and strikes at BA."

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Travellers 'face high fuel costs'

10 June 2011 Last updated at 11:44 GMT The lowest unleaded petrol and diesel prices can be found in Luxembourg, the report suggested UK holidaymakers are being warned that petrol prices have risen across Europe since last summer.

The falling value of the pound has also pushed up the cost for UK travellers taking their cars overseas, the report by the Post Office has found.

The lowest cost of unleaded petrol for UK drivers in the 14 countries surveyed was in Luxembourg at 128p a litre, with the highest in Norway at 182p a litre.

Motoring organisations recently called for an investigation into prices.

The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), which represents 35 million European drivers, said in a letter to the European Union that the way petrol prices were set was "far from transparent".

'Detour'

It was the second year running in the annual Post Office report that Luxembourg was named as the cheapest for UK drivers.

This was followed on the list of the cheapest petrol prices by Spain at 130p a litre, Austria at 133p, and then the UK itself at 136p.

The UK's neighbours - Ireland and France - were sixth and 10th on the list respectively at 147p and 155p a litre.

"The high fuel price increases in Europe mean that UK holidaymakers should plan their routes carefully in advance to cut costs," said Sarah Munro, of the Post Office.

"For example, motorists driving through eastern France can save 27p a litre on unleaded petrol or 24p on diesel by detouring into Luxembourg. Similarly motorists can save up to 23p a litre by crossing from Switzerland into Austria."

Paul Watters, of the AA, said that duty varied on petrol and diesel in many European countries, leading to some price differences.

In the US, where there is no duty, petrol costs about 64p a litre.

Country Price per litre Increase since 2010

Source: Post Office Travel Money

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