Brussels Airlines closes its first semester of 2022 at -89 million euro, an improvement of 38% compared to the previous year. The first months of the year were still impacted by the consequences of Omicron, while June was marked by four days of flight disruptions due to strike actions. Inflation and high fuel costs continue to influence the airline’s results, but thanks to its restructuring, the airline is set up with a competitive cost position to face the future.
In the first half of this year, Brussels Airlines welcomed 2.73 million passengers on board its flights. This is three times higher than the same period last year, when the covid pandemic and subsequent travel bans plummeted air travel demand.
Brussels Airlines increased its revenue by EUR 314 million or 228% year-on-year to EUR 452 million in the first half year of 2022 (previous year: EUR 138 million), thanks to expanded flight operations and higher yields. The revenues in the first semester of 2022 were still impacted by slow demand at the beginning of the year due to the Omicron wave. Later in June, the airline faced four days of flight plan disruptions due to a national manifestation and social actions. If not taking into account the strike days, June was an EBIT-positive month, in line with the estimations of Brussels Airlines’ restructuring plan.
Operating expenses went up by a total of EUR 282 million or 97% to EUR 572 million (previous year: EUR 290 million), due to higher volume and steep increases of costs.
Nina Oewerdieck, Chief Financial Officer at Brussels Airlines said: “Not only the strike cut deep into our results, but also the automatic indexation in Belgium has driven up our labor cost by 6% this year alone, by 8% if we consider November’s indexation. The still very high fuel price and more general inflation, combined with the strong position of the dollar make that our costs have risen substantially. The strike impact on our financials shows how crucial social peace is for our company and we are moving in the right direction on this front, creating a renewed partnership with our unions. We continue to work on improvements for the long run in order to make sure we create growth and perspective for Brussels Airlines, while safeguarding our employees’ work-life balance.”
As a result, the Adjusted EBIT in the reporting period amounted to EUR -89 million (previous year: EUR -143 million), an improvement of 38% compared to the first semester of 2021.
Nina Oewerdieck, Chief Financial Officer at Brussels Airlines said: "We see a big improvement of our result compared to last year and we will continue to see improvements as we have reached a very competitive cost position thanks to our restructuring program and our positive yield development. Also operationally we are performing quite well given the very challenging circumstances in the aviation sector across Europe due to the very fast recovery of the market demand. This is thanks to the efforts of all our employees as well as all our partners."
