Italian carrier ITA Airways has edged into full-year operating profit with a surplus of €3 million ($3.4 million), a performance which it claims is ahead of schedule.
While ITA also posted a net loss of €227 million, it states that it achieved the positive operating result even before the intervention of Lufthansa Group – which has taken a shareholding in the airline.
ITA emerged as a successor to perennially loss-making Alitalia in 2021.
Chief executive Joerg Eberhart says the small operating profit – an improvement of €78 million on the previous year – is the result of “significant growth” and the “considerable effort” of the carrier’s personnel.
He says the workforce has “contributed decisively to the complex transition from the start-up phase to the development and consolidation of the company’s operational activities”.
ITA attributes its heavy net loss to financial charges of leasing contracts during fleet modernisation and expansion, and the negative impact of foreign-denominated debts and credits.
The fleet reached 99 last year – comprising 22 widebody and 77 narrowbody airframes – with the introduction of 26 new aircraft.
Eberhart says a “sustainable net result balance” is “plausible” through the benefit of synergies with Lufthansa Group.
ITA transported 18 million passengers last year, up by 19%, driving a 26% rise in revenues to €3.1 billion.
It indicates that strong revenue growth has continued into the first quarter of this year, rising by 15% to around €600 million.
