Originally Posted by
bisonrav
The annual report and accounts show the BA passenger business is absolutely flat as a fluke. The overall top line has increased by inflation essentially, and even that isn't driven by passengers.
The main reason for the apparently good profit showing is a windfall on fuel. That looks like it's about to reverse, depending what happens in Iran and the Hormuz Straits. They're also seeing quite significant headwinds on catering and ground handling costs.
You probably ought to look more closely at the business excluding exceptional items. It's not particularly healthy. Tiermaggedon possibly hasn't been a disaster, but it certainly isn't a "resounding success". And IAG are downplaying the loyalty business which was the great hope for low capital growth and using a comparison with 9 years ago to indicate growth in that income stream (which is mostly BAH).
And even with that windfall, it appears the airline business itself is just about breaking even. "Other revenues" is doing a lot of heavy lifting.