2023-10-17 15:58:05
The Valencian airline Air Nostrum managed to recover in 2022 from the great economic blow of covid-19, returning to profits. This is what he explained this morning at a press conference. the president of the company, Carlos Bertomeu, who has pointed out as key factors for this return to the path of profits “some complex agreements” in the quotas in the leasing of fleet, the fuel coverage agreed before the war in Ukraine, which “were good”, and a boost in demand that has been “very significant”.
Due to these three elements, the company managed to have 19.6 million euros of profits before taxes last year, a positive figure that shows that the “company is stable” and that sand after losses of five million euros recorded in 2021 and of the negative 136.7 million that were registered with the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
These new profits, as highlighted by Bertomeu, will be used “to restore own funds and generate cash to repay the debt incurred”, of which 29 of the 133 million contracted with the ICO have already been returned. Furthermore, the good result occurred in parallel to a strong increase in the aggregate turnover of the five companies into which the Valencian firm is divided, which rose by 51% to exceed 494 million.
Below 2019
In this sense, Air Nostrum managed to close 2022 with 87% of flights (65,569 operations) and 86% of passengers (4.4 million travelers) recovered compared to the 2019 figures. Despite this, today, Bertomeu has recognized that “we already have a demand similar to that of the pre-crisis period”, although he has ruled out making predictions in this regard for the end of the year as it is a changing evolution.
Regarding his economic figures, Bertomeu has highlighted the fact that having achieved an agreement with the lessors for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 that has avoided having to choose to “drain liquidity”. This has consisted of the deferral of the payment of 50% of the rental fees of the CRJ1000 fleet for those years, although “it has already returned to normal.” As he clarified, the return of that pending portion “will depend on the years” to which these payments have been deferred.
Union with CityJet
On the other hand, Bertomeu has confirmed that “is already closed and signed” the alliance with the Irish CityJet that had been in the making since 2018 and had to be stopped due to covid. With it, the Strategic Alliance of Regional Airlines (SARA) was born, which will be “the largest group of regional airlines in Europe.” This, specifically, will be divided 80% by the partners of Air Nostrum and 20% by those of CityJet – percentages equal to those of the agreement before the pandemic, although mechanisms have been “established to compensate in favor of the shareholders of CityJet” in the event that there is liquidity-, will have its headquarters in Ireland “because it is where we have to be to offer our services” and will be chaired by Bertomeu himself. Yes indeed, The airlines will be “independent” from an economic point of view, each one paying taxes in its respective country.
Inside it, there are both On Nostrum (45 aircraft, including more and more turboprops that are “more suitable for short journeys and with lower fuel consumption”) as CityJet (26 aircraft), as well as Hibernian Airlines (3 planes). In addition, there will be the associate CityJet AS (crew management), Air Nostrum Training OPS (crew training) and WE GO (maintenance), the latter receiving the burden of repairs to the Irish airline’s aircraft, which will increase “the load on the workshop and allow for the incorporation of more jobs.”
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