The owner of airlines British Airways and Aer Lingus has said its earnings have soared in recent months thanks to higher sales and lower fuel costs.

International Airlines Group (IAG) said it was continuing to see a rebound in leisure travel.

It reported an operating profit for the first three months of the year of 68 million euro (£58.5 million), up from the nine million euro (£7.7 million) reported this time last year.

Total revenues also jumped to 6.4 billion euro (£5.5 billion), up from 5.9 billion euro (£5.1 billion) last year.

IAG said the improved profits and sales had been driven by stronger demand across its airlines, which also include Iberia and Vueling.

It highlighted demand for travel between major European cities, particularly for leisure, while business travel has recovered more slowly.

But conflict in the Middle East affected flying by most of its airlines to the region.

Fuel costs were about 5% lower than the previous year, due to lower average prices and more efficient aircraft deliveries, IAG said.

But it still spent more on operating the business over the latest quarter because of the higher volume of flights.

It also said employee costs jumped by more than 14% year on year, due to staff wages being pushed up and hiring more staff for a busy summer schedule.

Luis Gallego, IAG’s chief executive, said: “Our transformation initiatives and increased demand, including over the Easter holidays, have delivered another very good set of results with improvements to both revenue and operating profit.

“Our group benefits from the strength of our core markets – North Atlantic, South Atlantic and intra-Europe – and the performance of our brands.

“We are well-positioned for the summer. The high demand for travel is a continuing trend.”