LONDON: IAG, the owner of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, said Friday that profits jumped in the third quarter on higher demand for air travel.

Profit after tax increased 17 percent to 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in the three months to the end of September compared with the third quarter of last year, IAG said in a statement.

Revenue climbed almost eight percent to 9.3 billion euros, with the commercial aviation sector having recovered from the turbulent Covid years when airlines were forced to ground planes, triggering a sector-wide jobs cull.

“Demand remains strong across our airlines and we expect a good final quarter of 2024 financially,” said Luis Gallego, chief executive of the IAG group flying also the brands Air Lingus, Level and Vueling.

Shares in IAG surged almost eight percent at the start of trading on London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index, which dipped overall.

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The group said it would buy back shares at a cost of 350 million euros, a move that tends to boost a company’s valuation.

“In what’s been a miraculous turnaround from the troubles during the pandemic, IAG’s got its balance sheet into a strong enough position” to announce the repurchase of shares, noted Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.