BA owner IAG SA’s Irish and Spanish businesses spurred gains in passenger traffic at the company last year as expansion at the UK arm slowed. Aer Lingus, purchased by IAG in 2015, posted a 12% traffic increase, while the advance at Madrid-based Iberia accelerated to 7.6%, the group said Thursday. IAG has been pouring resources into a turnaround of Iberia and Aer Lingus, historically two of Europe’s worst-performing carriers. BA’s traffic growth slipped to 1.5% as it almost froze capacity to combat a glut in seats and bolster fares. The unit’s earnings have begun to recover from 2016’s Brexit vote, which triggered a slump in the pound, reducing the value of sales converted into euros, IAG’s reporting currency. Expansion also slowed at Barcelona-based discount carrier Vueling, which reported a 3.8% increase in traffic, a measure of passengers carried times the distance flown that’s a standard airline-performance indicator. IAG’s overall traffic also rose 3.8%, slowing from a 4.5% gain in 2016, while the passenger tally was up 4.1% to almost 105m. <br/>
oneworld
Qantas has renewed its criticism of the airline's foreign ownership cap, saying it could make it harder to fund a fleet overhaul and buy ultra-long haul jets. While the airline has handed down record-high profits in the past two years, chairman Leigh Clifford said the Qantas Sale Act, which caps foreign ownership at 49% of shares, was still holding it back, including in its ability to raise capital. "We haven't got a particular need at the moment, but at some stage we’re going to have to dramatically renew the fleet," Clifford said. "At some stage we’re going to have to replace the [Airbus] 380s ... and [CEO] Alan [Joyce] has talked of the challenge we’ve put out to Airbus and Boeing for long-range aircraft. Well, these don’t come cheaply." CE Alan Joyce has said he wants to buy ultra-long haul jets, likely to be modified versions of the Boeing 777-X or the Airbus A350-900ULR, to fly non-stop from Australia's east coast to New York and London by 2022. The airline is replacing its 747s with Boeing 787 Dreamliners, and has 12 fuel-guzzling A380s in its fleet, which are out of fashion with airlines favouring of more efficient two-jet aircraft. Qantas came close to breaching the ownership cap in October, when foreign shareholdings hit 47.7% of its register. Overseas investors had poured into the stock as it gained altitude, more than doubling in value between January and October. Foreign ownership had slipped to 46.7% by December 15. Breaching the cap triggers a forced sell-down of shares on a "last in, first out" basis.<br/>