In the same period last year IAG made a loss of €37 million but twelve months later this was turned into a profit of €124 million.
Total revenue rose 7.9% to €5 billion.
IAG’s impressive turnaround was only tempered by a warning of turbulence in the second quarter. It said that as well as the fallout from the Brussels attacks there was also some “softness in underlying premium demand”.
Despite this IAG still said it would generate an operating profit similar to 2015’s figure of €2.3 billion.
Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said: "This is a good performance with a strong increase in what is traditionally the weakest quarter.
"January and February’s revenue was in line with Q4 2015 trends. March revenue was affected by the timing of Easter and the Brussels terrorist attacks with the latter continuing into quarter two."
Generating such a massive profit in the weaker winter months is very impressive and while the company is still confident of matching 2015, the warning about problems ahead is a worry.
