Tough time for Iberia


Business class drop hits Iberia

Iberia has reported a loss of 165.4m euros ($237.2m; £145.7m) in the first half of the year after passenger numbers fell during the downturn.

Revenue plunged almost 20% to 2.2bn euros. The group said declines in business class passengers accounted for almost a third of this fall.

As a result of the loss, Iberia said it would cut capacity by a further 5% in the second half of the year.

The Spanish airline made a profit of 21m euros in the same period last year.

Many major airlines have been struggling against falling passenger numbers during the downturn, with a number of them reporting big losses.

On Thursday, Aer Lingus reported a big increase in first-half losses while Air New Zealand announced a large drop in annual profits.

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