IAG’s net profit highest among Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group at Q3 end

However, Lufthansa Group's carriers welcomed more passengers during the first nine months of 2025.

Photo: British Airways

The International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, LEVEL, and Vueling, has published its Q3 2025 results, reporting the highest nine-month net income among the large European airline groups, including Air France-KLM and Lufthansa.

On November 7, IAG announced its financial results for the period ending September 30, reporting a nine-month profit after tax of €2.7 billion ($3.1 billion), with the group’s total revenues climbing 4.9% year-on-year (YoY) to €25.2 billion ($29.1 billion).

Revenues were split between passenger (€22 billion, or $25.4 billion), cargo (€912 million, or $1 billion), and other (€2.2 billion, or $2.5 billion). The latter’s improvement was “mainly driven by increased third-party revenues from Iberia’s Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) business, together with increased revenue at IAG Loyalty, which includes British Airways Holidays.”

During the nine-month period, IAG’s airlines welcomed 92.3 million passengers, 0.6% fewer than during the same period in 2024, with load factors following suit and dropping by 1% YoY. Capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), grew 2.6%, with passenger revenue per ASK up 0.8% at 8.30¢.

IAG’s lower passenger numbers were not only offset by somewhat higher yields, but also relatively flat costs compared to the first nine months of 2024. Total costs per ASKs were 8.02¢, up 0.2%, while fuel and non-fuel costs per ASKs were 2.03¢ and 5.99¢, respectively, contracting 10.3% and rising 4.3% YoY.

All four IAG airlines, including Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, and Vueling (the parent company of LEVEL), were operationally profitable during the nine-month period, with only Vueling’s operating profit being lower than during the corresponding period in 2024.

Luis Gallego, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IAG, stated that the group delivered a strong performance in Q3 and continues to be on track to deliver another year of growing financial metrics, including profit.

“We remain focused on long-term value creation for our shareholders, helping to deliver our financial ambitions through disciplined investment for the future to improve customer experience and operational efficiencies.”

During the nine months, IAG took delivery of 26 aircraft: eight Airbus A320neo (two delivered to Aer Lingus, six to British Airways), three A321neo (to British Airways), six A321XLR (three each to Aer Lingus and Iberia), one A350-900 (to Iberia), and one Boeing 787-10 (to British Airways).

Vueling also added seven A320ceo aircraft.

Compared to IAG, Air France-KLM, which also has its low-cost carriers Transavia and Transavia France, ended the first nine months of 2025 with a net profit of €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion), with the Franco-Dutch group’s revenues growing to €24.8 billion ($28.6 billion).

However, Air France-KLM’s ASKs during the first nine months of the year were 252.5 billion, up 4.4%, compared to IAG’s ASKs of 265.5 billion, with Air France-KLM’s airlines welcoming 78.2 million travelers so far in 2025.

Unlike Gallego, who was seemingly more positive, Ben Smith, the CEO of Air France-KLM, said that the group “demonstrated its resilience in a challenging environment.”

“We maintained solid revenue growth and a stable operating margin, while cash generation remained strong over the first nine months – confirming the benefits of our continued focus on execution.”

Lastly, Lufthansa Group’s nine-month net profit was €1.09 billion ($1.2 billion) at the end of September, with the Germany-based group’s revenues improving by 5% to €29.6 billion ($34.2 billion), the highest among the three airline groups. Its passenger-carrying airlines’ revenue was €23 billion ($26.6 billion).

Lufthansa Group’s ASKs were 256.6 billion, positioning it between IAG and Air France-KLM, yet the group had the largest number of passengers, 103 million, ranking it above its Franco-Dutch and British-Irish-Spanish counterparts.

ITA Airways' results have not yet been included with the remaining group's results.

And to just throw it out there, Ryanair, which ended its first six months of its fiscal year 2026 on September 30, carried 119 million travelers in H1 FY26. Its revenue, however, was much lower than the three big groups’ at €9.8 billion ($11.3 billion), yet profit after tax was €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion), placing it just behind IAG in terms of net profit.

That was despite the fact that Ryanair is just six months into its financial year, while the three groups reported their results for a nine-month period between January and September.