British Airways: Owner IAG records surge in earnings as airline cuts flight routes - who is CEO Luis Gallego, how much does he earn?

International Airlines Group (IAG) reported an operating profit for the first three months to the end of September of 2.0 billion euro (£1.7 billion), up 15.4% from 1.7 billion euro (£1.4 billion) a year ago. Total revenues rose to 9.3 billion euro (£7.7 billion), up 7.9% from 8.6 billion euro (£7.1 billion) last year.

IAG also announced a 350 million euro (£291 million) share buyback scheme, adding that it expects its “strong financial performance to continue for the rest of the year”. Chief executive Luis Gallego said: “We achieved a very strong financial performance in Q3 2024, with a 15.4% increase in operating profit compared to the same period last year and improving our margin to 21.6%.

“This is due to the effectiveness of our strategy and group-wide transformation. We are also delivering on our commitment to provide sustainable returns for shareholders. Demand remains strong across our airlines and we expect a good final quarter of 2024 financially.”

IAG’s earnings soaring comes after Gallego took home millions last year. His total single figure of remuneration in 2023 came to £3million. His remuneration includes basic salary, taxable benefits, pension-related benefits, Annual Incentive Award and Long-Term incentive vesting.

Gallego became IAG’s chief executive in September 2020, joining from Iberia where he was chairman and chief executive from January 2014 having been appointed chief executive in March 2013. Before that, Luis launched Iberia Express, as chief executive from January 2012, making the new Iberia subsidiary one of the most efficient and punctual airlines in Europe. He joined Iberia Express from Vueling where he was chief operating officer from 2009, when the airline merged with the low-cost carrier Clickair which he co-founded in 2006.

British Airways recently suspended flights from Gatwick to New York for a five-month period, and confirmed it will remove all of its daily flights from Heathrow to Dallas/Fort Worth between March and October 2025 as well as suspending a second daily flight from Heathrow to Miami. The airline is experiencing delays to delivery of engine parts, which is also affecting several other airlines operating specific planes.

BA told i: “We’re disappointed that we’ve had to make further changes to our schedule as we continue to experience delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce – particularly in relation to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines fitted to our 787 aircraft”. It says it is working closely with Rolls-Royce to “ensure the company is aware of the impact its issues are having on our schedule and customers”.