International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG), the owner of British Airways and Iberia, stopped short of raising its revenue and earnings forecasts on Friday, even after reporting a robust set of results for the first half of 2025.
The group, which also owns Aer Lingus, Vueling, and LEVEL, reported operating profit before exceptional items of €1.88 billion for the six months to 30 June, up 43.5% compared to last year.
Revenue climbed 8% to €15.9 billion, reflecting continued strong demand for air travel across its core markets. Profit after tax came in at €1.3 billion, up from €905 million a year ago.
Despite the strong figures, IAG’s board chose not to upgrade its outlook for the rest of the year.
“We are confident in delivering good earnings growth, margin progression and strong returns to shareholders this year, whilst being mindful of the ongoing uncertainty that may result from the geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop,” the airline group said in its statement.
It noted that demand in its main markets, including the North Atlantic, Latin America and Europe, remains solid, especially for premium cabins.
However, IAG is seeing some softness in economy class bookings in the United States.
The airline group is maintaining its guidance for capacity and cost growth for 2025, now expecting non-fuel unit costs to increase by around 3%, a slight improvement from previous forecasts.
The company has also reconfirmed its expectation for total fuel costs at €7.1 billion this year.
Shareholders have already seen €1.5 billion returned so far in 2025 through dividends and buybacks. Net debt has fallen to €5.46 billion from €7.52 billion at the end of December, improving the group’s financial flexibility.
Chief executive Luis Gallego said: “Our strong performance in the first half of 2025 reflects the resilience of demand for travel and the success of our ongoing transformation, underpinned by the fundamental strengths of our group.”