Air Europa Increased its Business Turnover in 2023 to Over €2.75 Billion and Recorded an EBITDA of More Than €205 Million

·      These results improve by more than 18% on the previous year's business turnover.

·      Air Europa's operations recorded significant growth in 2023 in its main performance metrics, with more than 11.7 million passengers and an average occupancy rate of 82%.

·      The company maintains last year's strong performance with an 8.3% increase in operating revenues in the first quarter of this year.

·      The boost to job creation remains with a workforce that already exceeds 4,400 professionals, 11% more than in 2022. 

Madrid, May 21 2024.- The 2023 financial year for Air Europa has confirmed the forecasts that anticipated a historic year for the company, both operationally and financially. Audited figures show that Air Europa Holding and subsidiaries achieved a business turnover of 2,756 million euros, which represents an increase of 18.3% compared to the results registered in the previous year. This is even more significant when compared with the data for 2019, the year before the pandemic, when business turnover reached 2,338 million euros, improving this amount by 17.9%. 

These results have also allowed Air Europa to have the necessary capacity to face the partial early repayment of the bank loan of 141 million euros received in 2020, with the guarantee and participation of Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO). Last week, Air Europa completed the repayment of more than half of this loan and will finish paying the remaining amount in August. This way, it continues with its deleveraging process and reduction of financial costs.

The good business performance in 2023 continued in the first three months of 2024. In this period, Air Europa's operating revenues amounted to 583 million euros, 8.3% higher than in the same quarter of the previous year. In this sense, forecasts point to another year in which the main business parameters could return to historical figures.

"The excellent results obtained further strengthen Air Europa's viability and confirm our ability to meet all our commitments by ourselves," said Juan José Hidalgo, Air Europa's Chairman and CEO.

Business Consolidation and Expansion

The good performance of customer demand throughout 2023, together with the optimisation of operations at all levels, has enabled the company to consolidate its activity and maintain the expansion targets set last year. EBITDA stood at over €205 million, 197.5% more than in 2022 and almost 90% more than in 2019. Meanwhile, net profit exceeded 165 million, well above the previous year's figure and beyond the 28.6 million achieved four years ago.

These results confirm the success of the strategy implemented throughout the year, based on the advantages of a unified fleet, with more capacity and greater efficiency. The significant increase in profitability also allows for an increase in liquidity to continue facing the challenges of the company. Throughout 2024, Air Europa will keep implementing its 2024-2026 Strategic Plan, which sets sustainability, efficiency, innovation, and excellence in customer service as the cornerstones for growth, setting out the fundamental guidelines for action to consolidate the organisation and expand its activity at all levels.

"What has been achieved in 2023 would not have been possible without the effort, dedication, and commitment of all Air Europa employees. I would like to recognise the credit of the team in achieving a historic year that puts us ahead of the figures obtained in 2019 and places us in the best position to face the challenges of our Strategic Plan with guarantees. This will continue to push us to innovate in order to increase our level of efficiency. The improvement in the balance sheet obtained last year allows us to have enough cash flow to continue to provide stability and growth to the company," said Jesús Nuño de la Rosa, CEO of Air Europa.

Operational Improvement at All Levels

In operational terms, in 2023 the company continued to improve both in the number of seats offered and passengers carried, as well as in occupancy factor. The unification of the fleet around the aircraft models Boeing 787 Dreamliner for long haul and Boeing 737 for medium and short haul has been key, allowing more people to be carried while optimising the number of flights. This, in turn, has led to greater operational efficiency and reduced emissions.

In 2023, seat supply exceeded 14.2 million seats, representing 13.7% of that available in 2022. Passenger numbers also grew to over 11.7 million, 17% more than in the previous year. 

 Occupancy rate averaged 82%, which is 2.9 points higher than in the previous year. This reflects not only the high demand, but also the increased operational efficiency. The outstanding performance of the transoceanic routes, as well as Air Europa's Business Class and the role of the Dreamliner fleet, should be highlighted.

It is also worth noting the progressive increase in workforce. 2023 ended with more than 4,400 professionals, 11% more than in 2022, confirming the boost to job creation in line with the significant increase in commercial activity. This growth has been accompanied by various initiatives aimed at continuing to improve the skills of Air Europa employees at all levels.

Last year, as part of the collaboration with the multinational CAE, a new Boeing 737 FFS simulator and a Boeing 787 simulator were added in Madrid, which will enable the training of nearly 800 pilots and 2,000 Flight Attendants each year, respectively. In 2024, the airline activated the +Air Data Academy, a pioneering initiative in the aviation world aimed at training all employees in data analysis and management techniques, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to optimise business processes and decision-making.

Good Start to the 2024 Fiscal Year

The 2023 results continued in the first quarter of 2024. The aforementioned year-on-year increase in business turnover compared to the same period last year also resulted in a positive EBITDA of more than €8.9 million, which is 195.7% higher than in the previous year.

The first quarter of 2024 continued the good operating performance of the previous year. With a seat availability very similar to that of the first months of 2023 (almost 3.5 million seats), the number of passengers exceeded 2.8 million, 2.5% more than in the same period of the previous year. 

Successful Strategic Planning

In 2024, Air Europa continues to expand its activity with new routes and frequencies, although it remains essential to maintain stability at all levels in order to comply with the strategic plan, as well as to meet its obligations.

In terms of fleet, the company will continue to increase the number of aircraft throughout the year with a total of four new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The new Globalia Maintenance hangar at Madrid-Barajas airport has also come into operation. These facilities, which extend over an area of more than 22,400 square metres, will become a true centre of technical excellence for Air Europa. This space, which will eventually house 120 professionals this year, has the capacity to simultaneously accommodate up to three wide-body aircraft or up to six narrow-body aircraft.

"In recent years, we have unified the fleet around the most advanced Boeing models, which has allowed us to optimise operations to balance profitability, efficiency, and service quality. We have always put the customer at the centre of our decisions and the results we have achieved show that this strategy has been the right one," says Richard Clark, Air Europa's General Manager.

Commitment to Sustainability

The company has made sustainability one of the fundamental pillars of its strategy in the face of a key aspect such as the challenge of decarbonizing the airline sector. In 2023, Air Europa launched its Flight 2030 project, which includes more than 45 initiatives not only environmental, but also economic and social, with the aim of achieving real sustainability at all levels.

Likewise, and in pursuit of the development of more efficient transportation on short-haul routes, the airline signed an agreement with iryo, the most recent high-speed rail operator in Spain. This agreement allows us to expand the number of destinations available within the Peninsula, as well as increase the travel possibilities of clients with the convenience of doing so with the same reservation for plane and train, while iryo passengers enjoy the same consideration than one on Air Europa connection.

On the other hand, during the last year the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) was brought forward before the mandatory dates established by Brussels. In this way, in addition to currently carrying out some flights with SAF on the routes from Madrid to both Malaga and Brussels, agreements were also reached with Cepsa and Repsol to guarantee the availability of this efficient fuel on frequencies to Havana last year. and Buenos Aires, respectively.

Finally, it is worth highlighting the continuous introduction of operational innovations in terms of sustainability. In addition to the application of protocols aimed at reducing fuel consumption, such as SETI (Single Engine Taxi In) and SETO (Single Engine Taxi Out) for ground maneuvers, the company continues to incorporate the most sustainable models into its fleet thanks to to the strategic agreement it has with Boeing and which will soon allow the arrival of the first units of the Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle model.