International Consolidated Airlines Group, or IAG, (IAG.L) posted second quarter pre-tax loss of 127 million euros versus pre-tax profit of 86 million euros last year.
Excluding exceptional items, pre-tax loss was 89 million euros, compared to pre-tax profit of 142 million euros in the same quarter last year.
Total revenue grew to 4.61 billion euros from 4.14 billion euros in the prior-year quarter.
Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said,
"We made an operating loss of €4 million in the quarter, including €50 million of bmi losses, before exceptional items. While our revenue performance was good, up 11.5 per cent, this was countered by an increased fuel bill of €314 million, a rise of 25.1 per cent..."
The company said it was previously targeting a break-even operating result this year, after the impact of restructuring costs and the short term earnings drag from the bmi acquisition. However, in the light of the Spanish macro headwind, the company now expects to make a small operating loss in 2012.
In a separate press release, International Consolidated Airlines Group said its July Group traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres rose by 5.1 per cent to 16.94 billion from the prior year.
Group traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres were up 2.1 per cent on a like for like basis.
Group capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres for the month was up 5.1 per cent to 19.77 billion from a year ago. Group capacity increased 1.8 per cent on a like for like basis.
Passenger Load Factor was 85.7%, same as the previous year.
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