BA Owner Warns On Impact Of Brussels Attacks

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in the owner of British Airways have fallen after it warned on the impact of the Brussels terror attacks on its revenues and growth plans.

International Airlines Group – which also owns Aer Lingus and Spain's Iberia and Vueling carriers – was the biggest faller on London's FTSE 100 Index during Friday's session for much of the day, down nearly 5% at the close.

The group posted a pre-tax profit of €104m (£81m) for the first quarter, compared to a loss of €26m (£20m) for the same period last year, as passenger revenue climbed 8% to €4.5bn (£3.5bn).

But it warned that revenue trends in the current second quarter had been affected by the attacks on the Brussels airport and metro that killed 32 people – as well as "softness" in underlying demand from higher-paying premium customers.

Chief executive Willie Walsh said: "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."

IAG said that as a result it had "moderated" short term plans to grow its passenger capacity.

Its warning on the impact of the Brussels attacks weighed down shares across the travel sector, including low-cost rival easyJet and travel operator TUI (LSE: 0NLA.L - news) .

The sector has been affected by a spate of terrorist atrocities over previous months, including deadly attacks in Paris, Turkey and north Africa.

Last November, Thomas Cook (Xetra: A0MR3W - news) boss Peter Fankhauser said the series of attacks had caused "an unprecedented level of disruption" in the travel industry.