In the same period a year ago, International Airlines Group (IAG) suffered from a EUR 4 million loss but this year, it is flying high in profits. IAG's second quarter performance was robust as the Europe's third largest airline group showed operating profits of EUR 245 million. This was due to the recovery of its Spanish carrier Iberia which it spent a lot of money restructuring in the past years.

Unprofitability had plagued Iberia before it merged with British Airways to form IAG in 2011. Competition, labor disputes, and recession all contributed to the Spanish carrier's malaise. After spending more than EUR 700 million in restructuring Iberia, its losses were cut from EUR 93 million last year to only EUR 35 million this year.

IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh said that the benefits of restructuring are finally beginning to manifest itself.  "This is the first step in the restructuring but it is already bearing fruit with Iberia's losses down ... reversing the negative trend of the last 11 quarters," he told Reuters.