Scottish regional airline Loganair – which flies numerous routes between Ireland and Scotland – has returned to profitability, marking a full recovery from the Covid crisis.
The UK’s largest regional airline – which, amongst other routes flies between Dublin and Aberdeen and Inverness – said it made a pre-tax profit of £4.98m on a turnover of £161m in the 12 months to the end of last March; it’s 60th year in business.
The carrier had incurred losses over the previous two years as the pandemic had effectively shut down the tourism and travel industry.
In its last financial year, Loganair became the UK’s third busiest airline – behind British Airways and EasyJet – when measured by the number of flights operated.
Despite reduced passenger volumes during the early part of the year, amid Covid restrictions and related uncertainties, adversely impacting the total passenger numbers achieved for the full year, the airline carried more than 910,000 passengers and in 2022, experienced its busiest summer to date.
Earlier this month, Loganair said it will be increasing capacity on a number of routes – including Dublin-Aberdeen – for its summer 2023 schedule.
Loganair chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said: “The efforts of every member of Loganair’s team throughout the pandemic, and the diversified nature of our business, have enabled the airline to return to profitability far sooner than many of our UK airline industry peers.
“It has, without doubt, been an incredibly tough two years. Even so, our trading results, strengthening balance sheet, and our comprehensive GreenSkies environment programme mean that we are wholly confident that Loganair is now in the strongest position of any UK regional airline to weather incoming storms affecting the wider economy,” he said.
Loganair also fully repaid its Covid business loans and signed a new long-term financing agreement with Virgin Money.
The airline has also secured a new long-term 5-year contract with Royal Mail, in the UK, to undertake its Highlands & Islands air services, which will see it deliver post to the Scottish islands by day and connect to Royal Mail’s UK national network each night.
Loganair is currently up for sale, with its owners of the last 10 years – brothers Peter and Stephen Bond – hopeful of finding a buyer by next year.
