The owner of British Airways, International Airlines Group (IAG), has seen its operating profit increase by €59m (£50.71m) year-on-year.

IAG has reported that in the first quarter of 2024, its operating profit reached €68m (£58.5m), after hitting €9m (£7.74m) in the same period in 2023.

The airline group, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, saw its customer capacity growth jump by 7% compared to Q1 2023, while revenue also increased by 9%, from €5.89bn (£5.07bn) to €6.43bn (£5.53bn) in the same period.

AIG was also able to cut its loss after tax from €87m (£74.8m) to €4m (£3.44m).

Chief executive officer at IAG, Luis Gallego, said: "Our transformation initiatives and increased demand, including over the Easter holidays, have delivered another very good set of results with improvements to both revenue and operating profit.

"Our group benefits from the strength of our core markets - North Atlantic, South Atlantic and intra-Europe - and the performance of our brands. Investment across the Group in transformation is delivering encouraging improvements in punctuality and customer experience at our airlines. IAG Loyalty continues to perform very well.

"We are well-positioned for the summer. The high demand for travel is a continuing trend."

In its outlook for the rest of the year, AIG said it expects positive long-term sustainable demand for travel and its full year capacity plans remain at around 7% growth, with investment in its core markets.

Head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, Derren Nathan, added: "It’s pleasing to see positive progress on all key financial metrics. Lower fuel costs were complemented by a greater mix of more modern efficient aircraft, and operational costs are also being tightly managed. Debt keeps on coming down so it’s worth keeping an eye on dividend policy if strong trading continues.

"There was little in the way of forward guidance but the tone was confident, with IAG well positioned for the summer, against a backdrop of continuing high demand for leisure travel. Although the shares have performed well recently, the valuation is still below the historic average as a multiple of revenue. With the outlook for inflation, rates and the economy in Europe pointing in the right direction, IAG could fly higher still."

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