IAG suffers $1.24bn loss on Iberia woes

International Airlines Group, parent of British Airways, posted yesterday an annual net loss of 943 million euros on the back of troubles at its Spanish arm Iberia and a soaring fuel bill. The loss after tax, equivalent to $1.24 billion, compared with a net profit of 562 million euros in 2011, IAG said in a results statement, adding that it had been hit hard by impairment and restructuring charges at Iberia. Revenues grew 10.9 percent to 18.12 billion euros but the fuel bill rocketed by 20.4 percent to 6.10 billion euros. Before exceptional items, British Airways made an annual operating profit of 347 million euros — but Iberia suffered an operating loss of 351 million euros. “2012 has been a year of transformation for IAG — we bought bmi and integrated it into British Airways and initiated our restructuring of Iberia,” said IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh. “However there was a significant impact on the results from exceptional and non-operating items... These items include provision for restructuring and impairment costs in Iberia.” IAG had earlier this month revealed that it would axe more than 3,800 jobs at Iberia — about 700 fewer than planned. The division has struggled as a result of Spain’s weak economic backdrop. “We have embarked on a significant transformation program in Iberia — and these results emphasize further that the airline must adapt to survive,” Walsh said yesterday. “It must stem its cash losses and adjust its cost base permanently if it is to compete with other airlines in all its strategic markets and lay the foundations for profitable growth in the future. “Despite three months of negotiations between Iberia and its trade unions, no agreement was reached on an initial restructuring plan. Therefore, we have announced that Iberia will proceed with a 15-percent cut in capacity and has started the formal collective redundancy process which will affect 3,807 jobs.” IAG had already warned last last year that more cuts could follow at Spain’s Iberia against the backdrop of economic crisis in the euro zone country. Spain’s economy is in deep recession as an austerity program chokes consumer spending amid unemployment that surged to more than 26 percent of the work force in the fourth quarter of 2012. And the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy is hovering on the edge of a sovereign bailout, after already securing a euro zone rescue loan of up to 100 billion euros for its banks. “IAG’s performance for 2012 was set against a sharp year-over-year rise in the effective price of fuel ... and the deteriorating economic environment in the euro zone and particularly Spain,” the airlines group added yesterday. It last year completed a takeover of Lufthansa’s loss-making unit bmi in a deal worth 172.5 million pounds. In addition, IAG in 2012 launched an offer for full control of Vueling Airlines — which is already almost half owned by Iberia — for 113 million euros. BA and Iberia merged in January 2011 in a tie-up aimed at slashing one another’s costs, as a sharp economic downturn and rise of low-cost competitors sparked steep losses for traditional carriers. Arabnews