British Airways owner IAG logs improving Q3 profits

 British Airways owner International Airlines Group on Friday logged rising third-quarter profits, lifted by growing revenues and falling fuel costs, and increased its annual earnings forecast.
Net profits advanced 3.1 percent to 598 million euros in the three months to the end of September.
That compared with 580 million euros a year earlier, IAG said in a results statement.
Operating profit before exceptional items jumped by almost a third to 900 million euros, buoyed by a turnaround at Spanish unit Iberia.
Total revenues climbed 8.5 percent to 5.7 billion euros in the reporting period.
"We continued to grow capacity efficiently and both our non-fuel and fuel unit cost performances were strong with the latter boosted by the introduction of new, more efficient aircraft into our fleet," said IAG chief executive Willie Walsh.
Fuel costs fell partly as a result of more efficient replacement aircraft, such as the Boeing 787, the Airbus A330 and Airbus A380.
British Airways' operating profit rallied 27 percent to 607 million euros and Iberia's operating profit more than doubled to 162 million euros.
IAG also raised its annual forecast for group operating profit to grow by between 550 million euros and 600 million euros.
That compared with its previous growth prediction of 500 million euros. Operating profit stood at a base of 770 million euros in 2013.