International Consolidated Airline Group (IAG), the company formed through the merger of British Airways and Iberia, saw strong growth in premium traffic in January.

Group premium traffic was 3.8% higher than in January the yar before, while non-premium traffic grew 0.7% year-on-year (YOY).

Group traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, was up 1.1% YOY, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, was down 1.5%.

During the month, the Iberia airline experienced five days of industrial action by its pilots; the company said that on the days the pilots went on strike, the airline operated around two-thirds of its scheduled flights.

IAG said that underlying market conditions at its London Heathrow hub appear firm, but its Spanish operations have been significantly affected by the strikes, which reduced group capacity by around 2% during the month.

The company revealed that it plans to integrate the recently acquired bmi (British Midland) mainline operations into British Airways, having agreed with British Airwas pilots to make productivity changes that justify the integration.

British Airways also announced it is planning to resume flights to Tripoli, Libya, on May 1st.

Meanwhile, in Spain, Iberia has increased its coverage of the routes on which Spanair operated after Spanair was closed down.


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