BA-owner IAG returns to profit in 2022

LONDON (Reuters) – British Airways-owner IAG (LON:) on Friday reported substantially improved financial performance for 2022, with operating profit at 1.22 billion euros ($1.29 billion), and said profits would grow again this year.

The results came after IAG agreed on Thursday to pay 400 million euros ($423.84 million) to Spain’s Globalia for the remaining 80% of airline Air Europa it did not already own.

The acquisition is driven by IAG’s confidence that demand for travel will continue to recover from the pandemic.

For 2023, the airline group, which also owns Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, forecast profit in the range of 1.8 billion euros to 2.3 billion euros, up 88% on 2022 at the top of the range.

“2022 was a year of strong recovery, driven by sustained leisure demand and markets reopening. At this point of the year we continue to see robust forward-bookings, while also remaining conscious of global macro-economic uncertainties,” IAG CEO Luis Gallego said in a statement.

($1 = 0.9439 euros)

(This story has been corrected to fix million to billion in paragraph 1)