Brussels Airlines posts strong results in third quarter with adjusted EBIT of 51 million euro
Brussels Airlines closes its third quarter of 2022 at 51 million euro, which is the highest quarterly result in its 20-year history. In addition, the airline will repay the state loan early, by the end of this year. The Belgian home-carrier welcomed almost 50% more passengers compared to the same period in 2021.
Looking forward, Brussels Airlines aims for strong and profitable growth by expanding its fleet, hiring new employees in all its departments and continuing to collaborate positively with its social partners.
During the third quarter of 2022, Brussels Airlines welcomed 2.28 million passengers on board its flights. This accounts for a rise of almost 50% compared to the same period last year.
The airlines’ revenue also increased during the third quarter, amounting to EUR 436 million. This brings the Year-to-date result to EUR 888 million, whereof nearly half was earned in the last quarter.
Both of the above results are to be explained by the combination of upcoming business traffic and the further recovery of the demand for leisure travel, where again a prolonged summer is noted.
Operating expenses increased to EUR 408 million, mainly due to the higher production volume, the strong position of the dollar and a steep increase of the costs of fuel, personnel, airport fees and other taxes.
As a result, the Adjusted EBIT for the third quarter of 2022 amounted to EUR 51 million.
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Brussels Airlines repays state loan by end of 2022
In July 2020, the Belgian Federal Government granted a stabilization package of EUR 290 million to Brussels Airlines to overcome the unprecedented crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and to create a sustainable future. Today, the Belgian airline announced the repayment of this loan by the end of the year, with the support of the Lufthansa Group.
Brussels Airlines expands its fleet
In order to reinforce its position as market leader at Brussels Airport, the Belgian airline will expand its fleet in 2023 with 4 medium haul aircraft. While the modalities for the fleet expansion are still being finalized, it is clear that the company will amongst others increase its traffic to neighboring countries as well as optimize its European point-to-point and feeder network.
Together with the two medium haul and the one long haul aircraft that assumed operations earlier this year, this will bring the Brussels Airlines fleet to 36 medium haul and 9 long haul aircraft next summer, compared to respectively 30 and 8 in 2020, as was decided in REBOOT Plus. With this fleet, network and staff expansion, the Belgian airline achieves its intended growth four years earlier than planned.
More details about the fleet expansion and network reinforcement will be known and communicated in the coming weeks.
Partial come back of business traffic still expected
During the fourth quarter, Brussels Airlines is expecting a further come back of the business traffic. While some sectors like the public sector and the marine business have fully restarted travelling, some others are still travelling at a slower pace. Brussels Airlines expects to reach 80% of the 2019 levels when it comes to business traffic.
Aiming for profit in 2023
Due to the difficult first half of the year and the accumulated losses, still heavily impacted by the pandemic and the tremendous rise of fuel costs, Brussels Airlines will not reach a break-even for the full year. For 2023, the airline still aims for a positive result.
Brussels Airlines and its social partners continue to work on the future
Besides the aspired growth for 2023, the airline already grew with one long haul and two medium haul aircraft in the past quarter. The hiring campaign that followed accordingly has reconfirmed the employer’s attractiveness with over 12,000 applications (of which more than 1,800 pilot candidates) leading to almost 300 new hires. Brussels Airlines now counts 3,217 employees.
