IAG Q1 profit drops 60%

IAG has posted a 60% drop in Q1 operating profit before exceptional items, to E135m (US$152m), and offered a more gloomy assessment of passenger unit revenues for the year. Passenger unit revenue for the quarter to March 31 was down 1.4% at constant currency, says IAG. It expects passenger unit revenue at constant currency to improve in the remainder of the year, but foresees flat unit revenue for the year as a whole, against a previous forecast for an improvement. The group also predicts that 2019's operating profit before exceptional items will be in line with 2018's pro-forma result of E3.49b. The pro-forma figure takes into account the effects of the IFRS16 accounting change. In Q1, non-fuel unit costs were down 0.6% at constant currency on a pro-forma basis. Fuel unit costs for the quarter were up 11% at constant currency. <br/>