IAG reports healthy April

IAG, the holding company that controls Iberia and British Airways, bested its April 2014 figures with a 1.9 percent rise in cargo handled last month, buoyed by a 16 percent increase in Iberia’s traffic. The Spanish carrier handled 440 million tonnes of cargo, compared to 432 million in 2014. British Airways actually fell 1.1 percent.

Year-to-date, however, IAG’s cargo traffic was down 2.7 percent to 1.75 billion tonnes, compared to 1.80 billion tonnes in 2014. This reflects a 4.6 percent drop for U.K.-based British Airways and a 6 percent increase for Iberia. IAG eliminated its freighter fleet in May 2014, thus the figures reflect cargo carried in bellies of passenger aircraft.