- The airline Swiss flew in an operating profit of 78.4 million Swiss francs in the first quarter.
- In the previous year, the airline had suffered an operating loss of almost 48 million francs.
- Sales rose to 1.1 billion francs after 712 million francs in the same quarter of the previous year.
Swiss announced this in a statement. The basis for the positive result are the lower costs as a result of the restructuring of 2021 and the high reliability of the flight program. However, the upswing must be viewed with caution, because a year ago the travel industry was still affected by the Covid variant Omicron and the war in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the company is structurally well positioned and can benefit from the good market situation. “The great desire to travel continues to lead to strong demand for air travel, while at the same time the industry-wide offer is still reduced after the Corona years,” said Markus Binkert, CFO of Swiss.
Legend:
After the Covid pandemic, Swiss is benefiting from the great demand for air travel.
Keystone/Christian Merz
The airline’s aircraft were much better utilized than a year ago. On average, 81 out of 100 seats were occupied. A year ago, the occupancy rate was just under 63 percent. This high demand and the still reduced supply of the aviation industry after the Covid pandemic has resulted in fewer cheap airline tickets. As a result, the average earnings of Swiss increased.
Corona loans repaid
With the quarterly financial statements, the Swiss airline has once again reached the level of liquidity it had before the crisis. By the end of May 2022, Swiss had repaid the Corona bank loan guaranteed by the federal government before the end of the term and financed itself through the Lufthansa Group on the capital market. This allows the airline to invest again without restrictions.