Passenger traffic rises on strong BA performance

London - International Airlines Group , the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, on Tuesday posted a 3.6% rise in December traffic, helped by a strong performance at BA.

Traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, rose by 3.6% on a pro-forma basis but including Veuling, the Spanish budget airline the group bought in April, it was up by 10.6% compared with last year.

Shares in ICAG rose 2.8% in afternoon trading following the release of the December traffic figures.

British Airways' December traffic was up 6.9%, outperforming Iberia where difficult economic conditions in Spain have hit operations. Iberia's December traffic fell 11.4%. .

IAG said its first and business-class travel - the most profitable part of its passenger business - rose 7.3% compared to the same month in 2012.

The company said underlying market conditions remained unchanged from its third quarter results published in October.