LONDON, Feb 7, 2026, 09:21 GMT — The market is closed.
- IAG finished Friday with a strong gain, closing close to its 52-week highs.
- The group provided an update on its total voting rights as well as the number of treasury shares.
- Attention shifts to full-year numbers due later this month, as oil prices and winter setbacks come into focus.
International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) (ICAG.L), which owns British Airways, rallied 4.33% to finish Friday at 438.50 pence—putting the stock near its 52-week high. That price is what traders are left with until markets reopen on Monday. 1
IAG’s late-week bounce puts the stock squarely into the “near highs” camp, just as the market gears up for its full-year update later this month. Airlines are twitchy; even a slight nudge in costs or demand sends shares jumping.
Fuel’s the wildcard here. For airlines, jet fuel leads the cost stack, and every swing in crude prices lands hard—risk appetite usually shrinks fast when crude gets choppy.
London stayed firm, with the FTSE 100 booking a 0.6% gain on Friday—banks did much of the lifting. The Bank of England hinted Thursday that a rate cut may be on the cards if inflation keeps retreating. 2
IAG on Friday released its regular voting-rights disclosure, complying with the UK’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules. The company reported holding 162,073,135 treasury shares—these typically don’t count toward votes—leaving 4,565,128,012 total voting rights. Total issued share capital: 4,727,201,147. 3
Geopolitics drove oil this session. Brent slid 2.2%, settling at $67.93 a barrel on Thursday, after reports from Reuters that the U.S. and Iran would open talks in Oman. Daniel Takieddine, CEO and co-founder at Sky Links Capital Group, summed up the mood: “Market sentiment shifted to a risk-off mode.” 4
South Europe Ground Services, the ground-handling arm of IAG, logged 712,340 operations in Spain for 2025. The company is closing in on the approval it needs to break into Portugal, with chief executive Miguel Ángel Gimeno describing 2025 as proof it can handle “at large scale” within Spain. 5
This week made clear just how exposed airlines are to daily disruptions. In Berlin, flights picked up again on Friday, though airport officials cautioned passengers to brace for “significant delays and cancellations” following a bout of black ice that halted air traffic in the city. 6
IAG’s surge puts it out front for now. Investors, though, are parsing the classic airline markers—capacity, pricing power, costs. Low-cost names and bigger continental operators are all wrestling with fuel swings and operational snags, but each in their own measure.
The stock’s hovering close to its highs—plenty of momentum, but that’s not always good news. Oil bounces, weather snarls operations, or even a hint of concern about costs, and profit-takers could jump in right away.
February 27 brings IAG’s full-year numbers. Investors want to see what’s happening with demand, cost pressures, and whether there’s news on capital returns. 7
