· CEO Mehdorn: airberlin is on the right track
· Efficiency programme “Shape & Size” reduces impact of external costs
· Revenue increase despite capacity reduction
2012-08-09 — /travelprnews.com/ — In the second quarter of 2012, airberlin once again increased its revenue. Revenue was up
1.7 per cent to 1.135 billion euros despite a capacity reduction of 5.8 per cent. Revenue per passenger has therefore continually increased for a full year now and yield (income per passenger) also increased. Savings from our efficiency-increasing programme “Shape & Size” slightly exceeded the projected figure of 45 million euros for the second quarter by 5 million euros. This counteracted negative impacts from higher kerosene prices, a higher US dollar exchange rate and the air traffic tax. In this manner, the effect of higher oil prices on operational expenses was reduced to only 2.5 per cent, although kerosene costs, despite the capacity reduction, had increased by 10 per cent.
As airberlin CEO Hartmut Mehdorn stated: “We were able to compensate for sharply rising external costs with internal measures. The revenue growth shows that we are on the right track. With our targeted fleet reduction, we will be less affected by seasonal fluctuations in the future. We are also investing in the expansion of long haul flights in an effort to further increase earnings and fly in the profit zone as planned next year.”
The half-year comparison highlights the positive effects resulting from the “Shape & Size” efficiency-increasing programme. Revenue increased by 2.7 per cent to 1.948 billion euros (1.897 billion euros). At the same time, capacity was reduced by 7.6 per cent. Capacity utilization improved by 2 percentage points to 77.2 per cent (75.2 per cent) and yield (income per passenger) rose by 3.4 per cent to 109.06 euros (105.45 euros). EBITDAR (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and leasing expenses) was up by 33.2 per cent, reaching 155.3 million euros (116.6 million euros) despite fuel costs increasing by 70 million euros. EBIT (operating earnings before interest and taxes)
improved by 19 per cent to -178.7 million euros (-220.5 million euros). The net loss increased slightly to -169.2 million euros (-164.5 million euros) due to market value losses.
In the second quarter, capacity utilization improved to 77.8 per cent (77.4 per cent), and yield increased to 108.50 euros (107.66 euros). EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and rent) increased to 148 million euros (142.3 million euros) and EBIT (operating earnings before interest and taxes) rose to -29.4 million euros (-32.2 million euros). The net loss increased to -66.2 million euros (-43.9 million euros).
Equity amounted to 101.3 million euros at the end of the first half of 2012. CFO Ulf Hüttmeyer: “This is due, on the one hand, to seasonal effects as well as the evaluation of hedging instruments on the balance sheet date on the other. Equity improved by 60 million euros at the end of July due to evaluation differences alone. By the end of the year we expect a better equity ratio than previous year.” Along with the equity tranche in
January, airberlin’s largest shareholder, Etihad Airways, also made a loan of 162.9 million euros available as of 30th June 2012.
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