SHARES IN AER Lingus owner International Airline Group (IAG) dropped by up to 10% in early trading this morning after it reported a fall in demand for economy fares on transatlantic flights this summer.

Aer Lingus itself, however, today reported a 22% increase in profits in the third quarter of this year.

Aer Lingus had an operating profit of €170 million for the third quarter of this year, a €31 million gain on the same period last year, which the airline said was “driven by solid revenue performance and benefitting from favourable fuel pricing”.

“Q3 2025 saw an approximately 6% growth in Aer Lingus’s overall capacity compared to Q3 2024, as the airline operated its largest ever North American network.”

But its parent company IAG’s pre-tax profits in the three months to the end of September fell by 2.1% to €1.87 billion.

That is compared with €1.91 billion during the same period last year.

IAG – which also owns British Airways, Iberia and Vueling – reported a 2.4% increase in its capacity, but a 2.4% decline in passenger revenue.

The company said the North Atlantic market saw “some softness in US point of sale economy leisure”, while prices across its airlines were lower in the European market because of “high growth by British Airways and more competitive markets elsewhere”.

IAG chief executive Luis Gallego insisted the results were “strong”, noting that “we are comparing with a very strong quarter last year”.

He said: “This performance was driven by the strength of our airline brands and businesses across our core market, where we continue to see robust demand for air travel.

“Europe continues to be weak but is improving lately, but it’s true it is the market that we can say is a little softer.

“The rest of the world in general is positive.”

One analyst pointed to reduced demand for cargo transport, following a surge ahead of the election of US President Donald Trump and the imposition of his promised tariffs, as a reason for the drop.

“IAG’s steep ascent levelled off in the third quarter, as growth failed to soar to the heights the market expected,” noted Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Mirroring Air France-KLM… the miss stems from lower cargo revenues, with last year’s figures benefitting from increased volumes ahead of the US presidential election” that returned Trump to power.

IAG had reported a 44% jump in net profit for the first half of the year, which saw it unveil a multi-billion-dollar order for new Boeing and Airbus planes.

First-half earnings were impacted however by a €45.4 million hit to British Airways after a fire at an electrical substation forced a shutdown at London’s Heathrow Airport in March.

With reporting from AFP and Press Association