IAG’s operating profit for the six months to June 30, 2018 was €1,115 million before exceptional items, an improvement of €165 million from last year. British Airways made a profit of €868 million before exceptional items (2017 restated: €740 million); Iberia made a profit of €102 million (2017 restated: €87 million); Aer Lingus made a profit of €104 million (2017 restated: €53 million) and Vueling’s loss was €-11 million (2017 restated: loss €-7 million).
Strategic overview British Airways closed its New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS) to future accrual and British Airways Retirement Plan (BARP) to future contributions from March 31, 2018. The schemes have been replaced by a flexible defined contribution scheme, the British Airways Pension Plan (BAPP). The changes resulted in a one-off reduction of the NAPS IAS 19 defined benefit liability of €872 million and associated transitional arrangement cash costs of €192 million.
British Airways successfully launched a US$608.6 million EETC bond issue to fund aircraft deliveries. The bonds were combined with Japanese Operating Leases with Call Option (JOLCO) of US$259 million, bringing the total raised to US$868 million. The transaction includes Class AA and Class A Certificates with an underlying collateral pool consisting of 11 aircraft: two new Boeing 787-9, delivered between March and April 2018, one Boeing 787-8 delivered in September 2017, one new Boeing 787-8 delivered in June 2018 and seven new Airbus A320 NEO aircraft, scheduled for delivery between April and October 2018. The Class AA Certificates ($409.8 million) have an annual coupon, payable quarterly, of 3.800 per cent and the Class A Certificates ($198.8 million) have an annual coupon, payable quarterly, of 4.125 per cent.
On 28 June, IAG launched its new shorthaul low-cost Austrian subsidiary, branded as LEVEL with flights from Vienna starting on July 17, 2018. The new subsidiary has an Austrian Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and will base four Airbus A321 aircraft in Vienna from where it will fly to 14 European destinations.
