Iberia Posts Quarterly Losses of €45 Million

Iberia´s consolidated results for the first quarter of 2006 showed a loss of €45 million, which was 29 million euros worse than the results obtained in the same quarter last year. The main cause was the steep rise in the price of aviation fuel, on which the company spent €80 million more than in the first quarter of 2005.

Unit operating income was up by 5 percent in the quarter from 2005, continuing the trend set in the second quarter of last year. This was due chiefly to higher unit passenger revenues on international routes.

The load factor reached 75.7 percent, up 0.9 points from the level marked a year ago, even though this year Easter Week fell in the second quarter. In keeping with the trend of recent months, international routes in general performed well, and the load factor on long-haul routes reached 85.8 percent.

The number of passengers carried in the first quarter increased by 1.9 percent. The largest growth -9.2 percent- was posted on medium-range routes.

Despite the drop in operating results, the EBITDAR declined by only 7 percent, leaving an accrued EBITDAR margin of 8.3 percent in the first three months of the 2006.