International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. (IAG) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to International Airlines Group Q1 2026 results. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session through the phone lines, and instructions will follow at that time. I would like to remind all participants that this call is being recorded. I will now hand over to Luis de Ayo, Chief Executive Officer, to open the presentation. Please go ahead. Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the IAG first quarter results. As usual, I'm joined by Nicolas Cadbury, our CFO, as well as the IAG Management Committee. And for the first time, I would also like to welcome José Antonio Barronuevo, our incoming CFO, to the call. I'm pleased to report a strong first quarter. We grew revenue by 1.9%, reflecting continuing strong demand for our airlines and networks. We grew profit by 77% to deliver operating profit of 351 million euros. Our operating margin improved by 2.1 points to 4.9% in our seasonally quietest quarter. This good profit performance was mostly achieved before the impact of the Middle East conflict, which we expect to have a more substantial impact in the rest of the year. We have started this year in an incredibly strong position, so we are uniquely well set to navigate the headwinds that the crisis has created. We have leading positions across diverse geographical markets. We have leading brands across different customer segments in those markets. And we have structurally high margins supported by our well-established transformation program that help us to absorb some of the effects of this volatility. I will also mention at this point our capital light loyalty business, which grew revenue by 10% and profits by 32.6% at a 20% margin. And we ha...