Air Nostrum returns to profits in 2022 and achieves social peace with all its employee groups

Air Nostrum invoices 494 million euros in 2022, 48% more than the previous year, and ends with profits of 19.6 million
The airline presents significant growth in passengers, number of flights and load factor in 2022
Air Nostrum has already returned 29 million of the ICO credits
The company has signed agreements with all worker groups for the coming years
The birth of SARA (Strategic Alliance of Regional Airlines) is announced, the result of Air Nostrum's alliance with CityJet

Air Nostrum obtained a sales figure of 494.2 million euros in 2022, which represented aggregate profits before taxes of 19.6 million euros. The company returns to the dynamic of positive results after two years of losses marked by the COVID 19 crisis. In addition, during 2023 the airline has finished closing agreements with all groups of workers, thereby guaranteeing an adequate work framework. to achieve the growth objectives that you have set out right now.

2022 has been a good year for the company chaired by Carlos Bertomeu, who today held a press conference in Quart de Poblet (Valencia) to present the results and offer the latest company news. Income represents an improvement of 51% compared to 2021, while the company has returned to profit (19.6 million) after losing 5 million euros the previous year. The strong increase in turnover has been due to the high demand registered since the second quarter of 2022. Air Nostrum returns to the path of profits, something it has never abandoned, except at the beginning of its operations back in 1994 and in the two great global crises.

The return to profits has allowed the company to begin repaying the ICO loans, as well as to assume the settlement of interest on the debt contracted with FASEE (SEPI). Air Nostrum has already returned 29 of those 133 million from the ICO and is up to date with the interest settlements on the debt with the SEPI, which amounts to 111 million euros.

Air Nostrum has improved in all its management indicators in 2022. Thus, the number of passengers has gone from the 2,855,000 that the company had in 2021 to 4,435,000 in 2022, which represents an exponential growth of 55%. Also, And to meet the high demand for seats, the company substantially increased its number of flights since it went from 46,710 in the previous year to 65,569 in 2022, which represents an improvement of 40% and more than double the year of the pandemic. It has also been possible to improve the load factor, reaching 77% in 2022, which has meant increasing the 2021 records by 17%.

To achieve these flight figures and to be able to meet demand, Air Nostrum has a current fleet of 48 aircraft in which the ATR72 turboprops take center stage with an increase of four units and the conversion of the jets towards a more homogeneous fleet with the gradual withdrawal of the CRJ200 fleet, leaving in the future the most modern CRJ1000 with capacity for one hundred passengers as the only jet aircraft.

The company has returned to profit despite the fact that some relevant indicators for an airline such as the Eurodollar exchange rate, interest rates and the price of kerosene have not helped in 2022. These three parameters are very important in the company's expense account. any company dedicated to aviation.

Guaranteed social peace

On the other hand, Air Nostrum has closed agreements with all worker groups, thereby guaranteeing 'social peace' in the coming years. In December 2022, an agreement was reached with the administration staff. On July 13, the agreement was signed with the handling staff at the airports. Already in September, the agreements for pilots, TCPs and maintenance technicians were corroborated. All agreements have been reached within a framework of understanding, effort and commitment of both the workers' representatives and the company.

All of these milestones have been achieved without reducing the company's commitment to sustainability one bit. In 2022 Air Nostrum flew up to 14 flights with SAF fuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) and maintained the commitment to use this energy in 10% of its operations in 2030. To achieve this, it worked with the suppliers of this ecological fuel on a daily basis. Air Nostrum was named in 2022 by 'Air Transport World magazine' as one of the four airlines in the world that have worked the most for sustainability along with Wideroe, SAS and United Airlines.
In addition, it has also received the 'Excellence in Sustainability Award 2022' awarded by Avion Revue magazine for being the second European airline with the highest CO2 reduction by AKO (Seats per kilometer offered).

Air Nostrum maintains its commitment to innovation in search of decarbonization by supporting three innovative projects such as the Dovetail electric airplane; the incorporation of hydrogen cells into turboprops with the Universal Hydrogen project, which in 2023 has already made its first test flight and, also, the support in the development of the Airlander 10 airship launch project carried out by the English company Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV).

Birth of SARA

During today's press conference at the company's headquarters Carlos Bertomeu announced the birth of Strategic Alliance of Regional Airlines (SARA), the holding company resulting from a strategic union between Air Nostrum and CityJet. Following the recent final approval of the alliance by both national and European authorities, SARA will be the largest regional airline group in Europe. The alliance is made up of three airlines (Air Nostrum, CityJet and Hibernian), an aircraft maintenance company, a crew training center and four other companies dedicated to providing services to the aeronautical industry.

The companies are independent from an economic point of view. Each one will be responsible for meeting, in a personalized manner, the fulfillment of their obligations with third parties and the repayment of their loans without any type of transfer of funds between them.

Carlos Bertomeu explained: "SARA will act as a holding company, assisting and coordinating each of the companies in the alliance, which will continue to be independent entities, with their own brand and structures. Each of the companies linked to SARA will continue to have its headquarters in its own country and with its own employees, as in the past. This will mean, for example, that the headquarters, employees and economic activity of Air Nostrum will continue to reside in Valencia, maintaining unchanged its trajectory of the last 29 years as a Valencian company." .