IAG said operating profits had fallen by 3.5% to £1.08 billion in the three months to the end of September, while revenue before exceptional items was down by 4% to £5.2 billion.

Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said: "We’re reporting a strong quarter three operating profit before exceptional items of €1,205 million.

"While strong, these results were affected by a tough operating environment with a very significant negative currency impact of €162 million, primarily due to sterling weakness, and continued disruption due to air traffic control strikes.

"Despite this, our unit revenue performance was better than in quarter two and our quarterly profit after tax was €970 million before exceptional items, an improvement of 9.9% on last year.

"In the nine months, we made an operating profit before exceptional items of €1,915 million, up 6.1% versus last year.

"We’re pleased to announce an interim dividend payment of 11 euro cents per share, a 10% increase on last year.

“As in 2015, we expect the interim dividend to be around half the full year dividend.”

At current fuel prices and exchange rates, IAG expects its operating profit for 2016 to be around €2.5 billion, and has seen no significant

change in its short-term trading conditions.