British Airways and Iberia parent IAG has turned in a 65% increase in full-year operating profit, before exceptional items, to €2.3 billion ($2.5 billion).

The figure does not include the results from its latest acquisition, Irish carrier Aer Lingus.

IAG says that, when Aer Lingus is taken into account, the operating profit for the year increases to €2.34 billion.

The group’s profit after tax increased by more than 50% to €1.5 billion.

IAG states in its full-year results presentation that unit costs before exceptionals – outside of fuel – were up 4.3% but, at constant currency, declined by 3.9%. Fuel unit costs were down 17.2% at constant currency.

The company’s airlines increased capacity by 8.2% over the year and the seat load factor rose by one point to 81.4%.

IAG generated a strong performance in the fourth quarter, more than doubling its operating profit to €540 million outside of Aer Lingus’s contribution – which would have reduced this figure slightly to €530 million.

It is predicting an operating profit rise for 2016 which will be "similar" to that achieved last year. The company says that first-quarter revenue trends are "broadly in line" with those recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Source: Cirium Dashboard