British Airways Owner IAG Bucks Hard Year for Airline Stocks (1)

It’s been a tough year for investors in European aviation, with Boeing Co.’s production woes, engine problems grounding aircraft and the still-sluggish corporate-travel market weighing on the sector.

Carriers including Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Wizz Air Holdings Plc have failed to replicate the post-pandemic gains of 2023 — but one airline group has bucked the trend.

British Airways’ parent IAG SA almost doubled in value this year, making it the second-best performer on the Bloomberg World Airlines Index, and the only European carrier among the Top 10 gainers. Lufthansa, the biggest airline group in the ...