Aer Lingus has said it is “recovering well” on the back of showing its first profit since the pandemic crisis, which decimated the tourism industry.
As part of parent company IAG’s annual results, Aer Lingus has reported an operating profit of €45m (before exceptional items are taken into consideration) for 2022.
While still a good way off Aer Lingus’ pre-Covid 2019 profits of €276m, the 2002 performance represents a welcome turnaround following two years of significant losses.
Aer Lingus ramped up its operations significantly in preparation for the summer peak and continued to rebuild its network, reaching 2019 capacity levels for quarter four 2022. Losses before exceptional items of €95m in the first half of the year were offset by €139 million operating profit before exceptional items in quarter three and followed by €1m operating profit before exceptional items in quarter four.
Leisure travel has been key to recovery particularly in the peak holiday periods, with business travel also recovering but at a slower pace. There has been high market demand for European sun destinations and North Atlantic routes, with notable strength in inbound US passengers.
The new Aer Lingus Manchester base also performed well in its first full year of operations.
Aer Lingus said: “While we are mindful that business travel recovery lags that of leisure, and that global macro-economic uncertainties causing higher oil prices, exchange rate fluctuations, rising interest rates and inflation could impact aviation this year, there is much for Aer Lingus to build on in 2023.
“2023 will see Aer Lingus operating its largest ever North America network, putting additional capacity on our European leisure routes and adding three new summer routes to Kos (Greece), Sardinia (Italy) and Brindisi (Italy). Looking ahead, a continued recovery is well on track with strong forward bookings. This recovery positions Aer Lingus to rebuild financial health and invest in the business.”
On a group-wide basis, IAG – which, as well as Aer Lingus, owns British Airways, Iberia and Vueling and has agreed to buy Air Europa – posted an operating profit of €1.26bn for the year, a turnaround from a €2.97bn loss in 2021. It said it expects a strong 2023, with earnings forecast to jump by as much as 90% this year.
