IAG share price: BA to compete with budget carriers on Stansted routes

International Consolidated Airlines Group’s (LON:IAG) British Airways will start flying from Stansted Airport later this year, the airline has said. The move would bring the company into direct competition with low-cost carriers Ryanair (LON:RYA) and easyJet (LON:EZJ).

IAG’s share price has been little changed in today’s session, having added 0.02 percent to 475.40p as of 13:24 GMT. The shares are outperforming the benchmark FTSE 100 index which has fallen deep into the red and currently stands 1.09 percent lower at 5,627.63 points. In the year-to-date, the stock has lost 22.19 percent, as compared with a 9.86-percent fall in the Footsie.
British Airways announced in a statement today that it will start flying from Stansted this summer, adding a fourth London airport to its network which also includes Heathrow, Gatwick and London City. The carrier said that it will launch flights to “the popular holiday sunspots” of Faro, Malaga, Palma and Ibiza. British Airways noted that its flights from Stansted will be operated by the group’s wholly-owned subsidiary BA CityFlyer.

“Stansted is a growing airport and we will be offering a full scheduled service to some of the most popular European holiday destinations, complementing our existing services from other London airports,” Luke Hayhoe, British Airways’ general manager commercial and customer at BA CityFlyer, said in the statement.
Nick Trend, consumer advice expert at The Telegraph, called the airline’s move ‘interesting and aggressive’.
“It’s the first time it has decided to compete head to head with Ryanair and easyJet, who have taken so much traffic from BA in recent years, on their home turf,” Trend pointed out, as quoted by the newspaper.
IAG, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling, is scheduled to update investors on its full-year performance on February 26.
As of 14:08 GMT, Tuesday, 09 February, International Consolidated Airlines Grp share price is 472.20p.

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