International Airlines Group (IAG) has ended 2017 with cargo tonne kilometres (CTK) increasing 5.6 per cent to 5.7 billion, with growth across all of its airlines.

At British Airways CTK was up by 6.3 per cent to 4.5 billion, while Iberia rose by 1.2 per cent to 1.1 billion and Aer Lingus by 22 per cent to 155 million.

During December CTKs rose 0.8 per cent to 484 million for IAG, with figures at British Airways up 1.6 per cent to 371 million, Iberia falling 3.9 per cent to 99 million and Aer Lingus increasing 16.7 per cent to 14 million.

On 29 December, IAG announced it was to buy assets of the Austrian airline NIKI, which was formerly part of the Air Berlin group for €20 million ($24 million).

It will be a subsidiary of Vueling and incorporated as an Austrian company and run initially as a separate operation, with assets including 15 Airbus A320 family aircraft and slots at airports including Vienna, Dusseldorf, Munich, Palma and Zurich.