Aer Lingus boosts IAG to become Europe’s second-biggest airline

IAG has edged past Lufthansa to become Europe’s second-biggest airline last year, spurred by its acquisition of Aer Lingus as strikes held back the German carrier.

Lufthansa’s traffic, a measure of the number of customers carried times the distance flown that’s regarded as an industry standard, gained only 2.7% to 220 billion revenue passenger kilometres, it said yesterday. IAG last week posted a 9.6% advance to 22bn RPKs.

The shift reflects a growth spurt since IAG’s formation in a merger of BA and Spain’s Iberia in 2011 that’s seen the London-based company buy the former British Midland — from Lufthansa — as well as Barcelona-based discounter Vueling and most recently the Irish flag-carrier.