Iberian passenger number up in July

Spanish airline Iberia filled its planes more in July than a year earlier by cutting capacity on domestic and European routes and increasing its intercontinental flights, the Spanish airline said on Thursday.

Iberia, which plans to merge with British Airways this year, said load factor - a measure of how full its planes are when they fly - increased 2.8 percentage points to 87.6 percent.

Iberia cut its capacity by over 5 percent in Europe and by over 10 percent in Spain, where low-cost carriers like Easyjet and Ryanair have captured much of its market. It boosted its intercontinental flights by a touch over 7 percent.

Iberia's shares closed up 1.34 percent at 2.57 euros, before the figures were released.