British Airways Owner's Stock Is Flying High As Strong Demand For Air Travel Boosts Iag Profits

IAG stock has soared in the past year.

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• Shares of British Airways' owner IAG climbed as much as 5% after surpassing profit expectations.
• Adjusted operating profit rose 27% to 4.4 billion euros last year, beating analyst forecasts.
• The airline conglomerate announced a 1 billion euro share buyback.

Shares of British Airways' parent company IAG gained altitude Friday after full-year results beat analyst expectations amid strong demand for air travel.

Adjusted operating profit jumped 27% to 4.4 billion euros ($4.6 billion) in 2024, surpassing the 3.7 billion euros forecast by analysts.

The airline group, which owns Spanish airlines Iberia and Vueling, and Irish airline Aer Lingus, said revenue rose 9% to 32.1 billion euros, also exceeding expectations.

London-listed IAG rose as much as 5%, putting the stock up about 17% since the start of the year and more than 130% higher over the past 12 months.

That's better than the 105% rise for United Airlines stock over the same period. Delta Air Lines stock has gained 42% over the past year, while American Airlines stock is down about 6% and Southwest Airlines stock has fallen about 10%.

IAG announced it would buy back shares worth 1 billion euros over the next 12 months.

"The announcement of a further 1 billion euro share buyback program reflects confidence from a company which is currently flying high," said Richard Hunter, the head of markets at Interactive Investor.

"Significant cash generation has helped IAG in dealing with arguably the biggest thorn in its side, namely net debt, which represents an overhang from the days of the pandemic when the group was forced to ratchet up borrowings to survive."

CEO Luis Gallego said in a statement: "These results highlight the quality of our businesses and effectiveness of our strategy, underpinned by the successful execution of our transformation program across the group. We are delivering world-class margins and returns, in line with the targets we set out to the market just over a year ago."

IAG said demand for air travel remained strong in 2025: "Leisure travel remains robust as a major priority for households and in recent years we have seen this boosted by a shift as customers value experiences over material purchases."

While corporate travel increased last year, the company did not expect it to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, especially for short-haul trips.

British Airways remains the market leader to North America from London. It will be the only airline offering a first class cabin from the British capital across the Atlantic by the end of the year, IAG said.