This file photo shows British Airways planes parked at Terminal 5 Heathrow airport in London, March 18, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

LONDON - British Airways-owner IAG said strong ticket sales for summer travel and a winter season which beat expectations meant 2023 profit would come in above its previous forecasts.

Lufthansa, EasyJet and Ryanair have all pointed to robust summer bookings, showing consumers prioritizing travel spend despite high inflation and an uncertain economic outlook

IAG's positive outlook is in line with Europe's major airlines. Lufthansa, EasyJet and Ryanair have all pointed to robust summer bookings, showing consumers prioritizing travel spend despite high inflation and an uncertain economic outlook.

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Air France-KLM on Friday reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue and said it was seeing strong summer ticket sales.

IAG, which also owns Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, called the outlook for the summer "encouraging" and said capacity in its key North Atlantic and Latin American markets was now back at pre-pandemic levels, with demand from leisure travelers driving bookings.

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The group said that it now expected annual profit to come in above the top end of a 1.8 billion euros ($1.99 billion) to 2.3 billion euros range given in February, a level which at the top end represents a jump of as much as 90 percent on last year's result.

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For the three months to the end of March, which for many airlines is often loss-making as fewer people travel, IAG said high demand combined with a lower fuel price helped it turn a profit.

It posted an operating profit before exceptional items of 9 million euros, well above the 179 million euro loss expected by analysts.