International Airlines Group, owner of British Airways and Iberia, upgraded its annual guidance on Friday as growing passenger numbers and lower fuel costs led to strong third-quarter profits.

IAG, which bought Ireland's Aer Lingus in August, predicted full-year operating profit would range from 2.25 billion euros and 2.3 billion euros ($2.46 billion and $2.52 billion).

That compared with the previous profit guidance of 2.2 billion euros.

IAG added in a results statement that net profits jumped 42 percent to 848 million euros in the three months to the end of September.

Excluding Aer Lingus, it also posted a third-quarter operating profit of 1.21 billion euros, beating analysts' forecasts of 1.19 billion euros.

Revenues rebounded 15 percent to 6.756 billion euros, boosted by a 17.7-percent jump in passenger numbers to 27.564 million people.