Iberia airline profits plummet

MADRID — Spanish airline Iberia said Wednesday its 3rd-quarter profits plummeted 80 percent to 30.4 million euros ($38.8 million) compared to the same period of 2007, as international economic slowdown sapped demand.

Spain's largest airline reported a similarly staggering drop for its profits for the January-September period compared to a year ago: 77.1 percent, to 51.1 million euros ($65.1 million), because of higher fuel prices and slack demand.

Iberia shares closed down 1.2 percent at 1.69 euros ($2.12).

In a filing with Spanish market regulators, Iberia said a slowdown in airline traffic growth that began in early 2007 intensified in the third quarter of 2008 "in the wake of the deterioration in the international economic environment."

Operating revenue fell 0.2 percent to 1.46 billion euros ($1.86 billion) in the third quarter compared to the same period of 2007.

For the nine-month period, Iberia reported a meager 0.5 percent increase in operating revenue to 4.15 billion euros ($5.29 billion) and blamed this on the depreciation of the dollar against the euro. It said that in constant currency the increase would be 3.7 percent.

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