International Airlines Group's fourth-quarter passenger revenue increased 4.1 percent year over year to €5.4 billion, as CEO Willie Walsh said the airline group ended "a year affected by disruption and higher fuel prices" on a strong note.
Traffic in the quarter was up 5.4 percent year over year, and capacity increased 1.9 percent. IAG's load factor increased 2.8 percentage points year over year to 84.3 percent in the fourth quarter.
The group's current outlook, however, is murky amid the coronavirus outbreak. It reported demand weakness so far this year on Asian and European routes as well as business travel across its full network due to corporate travel restrictions and event cancellations. British Airways, for example, on Monday said it was canceling more than 200 flights in the second half of March, including some flights to New York and several European destinations. That is in addition to already suspended service to Mainland China as well as cutbacks on service to Hong Kong and Seoul.
The group is using some cancellations to redeploy aircraft on routes with stronger demand, including British Airways flights to India, South Africa and the United States as well as Iberia's domestic routes and service to the United States.
IAG's fourth quarter profit was €573 million, up from €492 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. For the full year, IAG's profit was €2.4 billion, down 1.4 percent year over year.
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