oneworld

American Airlines has written off more than half a billion dollars in revenue stuck in Venezuela because of currency controls. American said it will include a US$592m special charge in the just-ended Q4 "due to continued lack of repatriations and deterioration of economic conditions in Venezuela." The South American country had compelled carriers to sell tickets in bolivars but made converting the sales into US dollars difficult. Globally, airlines have around US$3.7b trapped in Venezuela as a result of its 12 year currency control system, IATA said in June. American also said it continues to expect a pre-tax margin between 12 and 14% for Q4, excluding special items. It continues to expect that passenger unit revenue fell by between 5 and 7% in the quarter from a year earlier. <br/>

BA parent IAG edged past Lufthansa to become Europe’s second-biggest airline last year, spurred by its acquisition of Ireland’s Aer Lingus as strikes held back the German carrier. Lufthansa’s traffic, a measure of the number of customers carried times the distance flown that’s regarded as an industry standard, gained only 2.7% to 220b revenue passenger kilometres, it said Tuesday. IAG last week posted a 9.6% advance to 222b RPKs. The shift reflects a growth spurt since IAG’s formation in a merger of BA and Spain’s Iberia in 2011 that’s seen the London-based company buy the former British Midland -- from Lufthansa -- as well as Barcelona-based discounter Vueling and most recently the Irish flag-carrier. IAG CE Willie Walsh pushed through thousands of job cuts at Iberia while using Vueling to combat the challenge of low-cost carriers led by Ryanair Holdings. He has also embraced Gulf rivals, inviting Qatar Airways to join the Oneworld alliance in a move that led it to become a 10% investor.<br/>