The recovery in air traffic following the difficulties caused by the covid-19 pandemic is leading airlines to return to positive results in the second quarter for the first time since the summer of 2019.
With the first half of the year over, it is time to take stock, which in the case of several airlines has revealed the positive impact of a strong recovery in traffic, particularly between April and June.
Air France-KLM announced it made a profit of €324 million in the second quarter of the year, the first positive result since the summer of 2019, when it was affected by the restrictions of the covid-19 pandemic.
The Franco-Dutch airline, which during the critical pandemic period lost revenues of around €11bn, has seen activity pick up in recent months, with revenues rising to €6.7bn, up 143.9% on the same period last year.
In the second quarter of last year, Air France-KLM had made a loss of €2,137 million.
These results make up in part for the first quarter’s figures and put half-year losses at 228 million euros, compared with almost 3,000 million euros in the first half of 2021.
International Airlines Group (IAG), meanwhile, which includes British Airways and Spain’s Iberia, recorded a profit of €293 million, in the second quarter, compared with a loss of €967 million in the same period of 2021, “following the strong recovery in demand across all airlines”, it pointed out at the time.
In half-year terms, IAG recorded a loss of €654 million, a third of the losses recorded in the same period of 2021.
For its part, the Lufthansa group, intervened by the German state, made a profit of 259 million euros in the quarter in question, compared with a loss of 756 million euros a year earlier.
Still, in the first half the German group posted a net loss of 325 million euros, down 82% year-on-year, following an increase in revenues.
Also the US airline United Airlines announced a return to profits in the second quarter of 2022, still short of analysts’ expectations, largely due to higher fuel prices.
The Chicago-based company reported profits of $329 million (about €322.8 million) between April and June, compared with losses of $1.4 billion (€1.3 billion) in the first quarter.
United Airlines had revenues of $12.1 billion (11.9 billion euros), the highest ever for the airline in a second quarter, up 9% from before the covid-19 pandemic.
In the same direction, in Portugal, the SATA Group, which comprises SATA Air Açores (responsible for air connections between the nine islands) and Azores Airlines (connections to and from the archipelago), reported consolidated revenues of €107.9 million in the first half of the year, representing growth of 51.4% compared to the same period of 2021 and 15.2% compared to the same period of 2019.
According to the Azorean airline, this figure “now constitutes the best first half of the year in terms of revenue since there are consolidated records”.
TAP has yet to present its first half results, which should happen later this month.
In the first half of 2021, TAP SA reduced losses to €493.1 million, which represented a recovery of 15.3%, or €88 million, compared to negative results of €582 million in the same period of 2020.
08/08/2022
