Commercial revenue at IAG Cargo increased 7.6 per cent to €260 million ($304.3 million) with growth coming from cross border e-commerce and pharmaceuticals, and strong regional performances in Asia Pacific and Europe.

Overall yield for the second quarter was up 1.1 per cent at constant exchange, with volumes increasing 6.4 per cent and capacity growing 5.9 per cent.

Cargo revenue in the first half of 2017 was also up 2.6 per cent to €516 million.

Volumes in Asia Pacific were up 8.7 per cent in the second quarter partly due to sea freight congestion between China and Europe, as well as strong consumer demand from high end electronic tech to the globally trending fidget spinners.

India was also strong, with high demand for express and time-sensitive freight, with IAG Cargo’s Constant Climate temperature sensitive service proving popular with India’s burgeoning pharmaceutical industry.

IAG Cargo chief executive officer, Lynne Embleton says the airfreight market remains very competitive but IAG’s performance has been robust.

The airline group has been upgrading its products including making its Critical emergency shipment service available to forwarders transporting Constant Climate shipments.

Embleton says: “This means that customers shipping pharmaceutical products can now upgrade emergency medical shipments to Critical, giving them non-off loadable status. This follows the continued success of Critical which recently surpassed 2,000 shipments since launch.”

IAG’s new low cost long haul operation, LEVEL, has been integrated into the cargo network, providing more long connections from Barcelona.

Embleton says: “This follows the successful integration of Aer Lingus and opens up three new routes into the Americas from Barcelona to Los Angeles (LAX), Punta Cana (PUJ) and Buenos Aires (EZE).”

Total revenue for IAG as a whole was up 0.9 per cent to €10.8 million and profit for the second half increased 2.3 per cent to €567 million.