Consolidated revenue in 2022 reached €1,34 bil., 98% higher than 2021 and 2% more than 2019. In 2022, the Group offered 15,8 mil. seats and carried 12,5 mil. passengers, 73% more than 2021, out of which 7,3 mil. passengers traveled to/from international destinations. Load factor reached 79,8% significantly higher than 2021 (+ 14.3pp), remaining though below the pre-pandemic levels due to the impact of Q1 and Q2 of the year. The contribution of the international network to Group’s revenues reached almost 80% in 2022.
The effects of resurgence of robust demand for travel to/from Greece, the significant increase of revenue per available seat, the evolution of our fleet upgrade with a higher number of deliveries of new technology aircraft in 2022, the benefit from partial fuel hedging all came together to offset the impact of high jet fuel costs and USD appreciation.
Total FY 2022 capacity offered in ASKs reached 90% of 2019, following a gradual increase as the year progressed, with Q4 reaching 99% of the capacity and 115% of consolidated revenues of Q4 2019 at €317,4 mil. revenues, becoming the first profitable Q4 in company history with a €13,6 mil. Q4-22 Net income.
Net Income for FY 2022 reached €106,8 mil. reversing headline losses of €57,6 mil. in 2021, but also being 36% higher than Net Income of €78,5 mil. recorded in pre pandemic 2019.
Mr. Dimitris Gerogiannis, AEGEAN’s CEO, commented:
“We are very pleased that through the joint efforts of our people and the evolution of their capabilities our Group has achieved significant profitability, after two years of severe losses during the pandemic, the most difficult period in aviation history. The result validates the effectiveness of our strategy, despite the challenging start of 2022 with the war in Ukraine and the increased jet fuel cost, proving that our investment in upgrading our fleet and services, unabated during the pandemic, has started to pay off in terms of improved competitiveness.
The Board of Directors will not propose any dividend payout for the fourth consecutive year in order to maintain sufficient cash reserves to fund the new investment in the MRO Facility & Simulator Center (announced in December 2022), as well as our capacity to buy-out the rights of the Hellenic Republic upon a potential exercise of their warrants. In 2023 we will take delivery of a further 9 new Airbus A320/321neo, part of the order of a total 46 neo aircraft by 2026.
The first indications for 2023 are particularly encouraging, with international traffic in the first two months and ticket pre-sales’ trends for the upcoming summer, well above early 2022 but also versus the same period of pre-pandemic 2019. Furthermore, the use of a higher number of AIRBUS neo aircraft will bring unit cost savings in fuel per seat, partially mitigating higher interest rates impact and high inflation across Europe that will affect the suppliers and our operating costs”.
AEGEAN plans to operate with 76 aircraft in 2023 and offer a total of 18 mil. available seats, of which 11 mil. seats in its international network, i.e. 2 mil. more seats than in 2022 and 800 thousand more than in 2019. The network will cover 46 countries, with 264 routes to 161 destinations out of 8 bases.
As of 15 March 2023, AEGEAN has fully repaid all loans drawn during the pandemic from the four large Greek banks, three years prior to their maturity. Following the repayment, total cash and cash equivalents remain above €500 mil., while Net Equity has also returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The evolving investment and deliveries of Airbus A320/A321neo, the replacement of the turboprop fleet with ATR42 & 72-600 which took place gradually throughout 2022, along with the use of SAF have already contributed to a 9% reduction in CO2 emissions per ASK in 2022 vs 2019; further improvement is expected in 2023 figures.
