IAG launched Level at Barcelona last June to compete with Norwegian in the low cost long haul market before setting up a short haul base in Austria last month.

Level now has four Airbus A321 based at Vienna and will fly to 14 European destinations, launching a twice-daily Gatwick service on July 17.

It also operates out of Barcelona and Paris: “We are committed to accelerating LEVEL’s growth and its fleet will increase to a total of seven A330-200 aircraft in Paris and Barcelona next year,” said Walsh, IAG chief executive.

IAG’s Q2 operating profits are up €45 million on last year from €790 million to €835 million, said Walsh.

There was less good news for another IAG subsidiary though, Vueling, which was hit by €20 million disruption costs owing, said Walsh, to ongoing European air traffic control strikes.

"Unfortunately, French air traffic control strikes continued to challenge our airlines’ operations causing disruption to our customers,” said Walsh.

“Vueling was particularly affected and incurred an additional €20 million of disruption costs in the quarter. These strikes are also having a significant negative impact on the Spanish economy and tourism.”

Walsh though hailed IAG’s results in the round, adding: "We’re reporting another good set of results in quarter two. There was a strong performance in both unit revenue and costs.

“At constant currency, our passenger unit revenue increased by 2.3% while non-fuel unit costs went down 2%.”