IAG CEO Luis Gallego s. Gallego highlights, according to Europa Press, that Spain is a country where tourism is essential and that air transport is an ecosystem in which actions in one area affect others.
Luis Gallego’s position is added to that already expressed by the Airlines Association (ALA), who also ask Aena to avoid raising rates, arguing that this would hinder the path towards the desired recovery of the sector. However, the rate increase has already been approved by Aena’s board of directors, although it will still need to be reviewed and have the approval of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) to enter into force.
The incorporation of Air Europa is going “slower”
Gallego has also explained that the incorporation of Air Europa to the group is going “slower” than they want and is still in the pre-notification phase within the approval process by the European Competition authorities.
Gallego has explained that “these processes are long” and could take up to 18 months. On the part of the company, he has informed that they are providing all the required information and that they are in dialogue with potential partners with whom they present ‘remedies’ before the Competition.
“The job is to demonstrate to the European Commission that this operation is not only beneficial for customers” enough to compete with other territories where consolidation has already taken effect. With all this, during the presentation of the results of the first semester of the year, Gallego has argued that “there is not much news” regarding this operation.
“We are going to let the president continue doing new things”
Iberia changed its management in mid-July with the arrival of Fernando Candela as president and CEO, replacing Javier Sánchez-Prieto, who continues his professional career in another sector.
Candela will occupy the presidency between July and December 2023 and the company has not yet announced who will take over. When asked about this, Gallego has indicated that IAG has its own processes to replace the members of the committee and that it will start soon “to arrive on time” to replace Candela. “For now, we are going to let Fernando continue doing good things,” Gallego declared.
“It is an important decision to find who is going to take Iberia to the next phase, because a process like this has to be done well and it is one of the most important in the group,” Gallego declared when the change in Iberia’s presidency was announced. , last April.
More than 900 million profit
IAG has registered a net profit after taxes of 921 million euros in the first half of 2023, compared to the losses of 654 million obtained in the same period of the previous year.
As the company has notified the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), operating profit reached 1,260 million euros in this semester, also abandoning the losses of the previous year. The company expects full-year 2023 capacity to be around 97% of pre-pandemic levels, subject to service disruptions.
