The Latvian national airline airBaltic will emerge from the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic very strongly, and when it will be possible to fly in full again, growth will be very rapid, Martins Gauss, Chairman of the Board of airBaltic, predicted in an interview with LETA.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the airline’s turnover in the first half of this year decreased by 63.6% to 78.713 million euros, while the group’s losses increased almost seven times and amounted to 184.77 million euros.
Gauss explained that the reason for the loss was Covid-19, because in January and February the company’s performance was much better than planned.
“This was followed by a 62-day period during which we stopped flights altogether. We had to lay off many employees. We had no income. In turn, the expenses were high because we had to change ticket reservations and return money for canceled flights, and we continue to refund “We also need to continue leasing payments for aircraft. The loss calculation includes payments for aircraft that we do not currently use. We are already reporting this in the loss statement, which is why the loss is so large,” said the head of airBaltic.
Gauss also stressed that this is the largest loss for the airline in the first half of the year. At the same time, he added that the same situation is observed in other airlines, and that airBaltic’s losses are even small compared to others. “Overall, the loss will be even higher in six months, and we will return to a situation where the number of flights is declining. Therefore, the loss will increase. At the same time, we have a plan that we are sticking to, and when we can fly in full again, growth will be very fast, “said the chairman of the airline ‘s board. He regretted that Latvia has very strict restrictions on air transport, including adding that Latvia is the only country in Europe that restricts air transport to such an extent.
“These things need to be discussed, because we need to be connected to other countries, but at the same time we need to be protected. Both of these things need to be done, because Covid-19 is practically not carried by air,” Gauss said. -19, banning flights until the flow of cars across borders is restricted.
Among other things, he said that it was not clear, for example, why it was not possible to fly from Latvia to the Greek island of Covid-19, even though Greece was on the Center for Disease Prevention and Control’s (SPKC) “red” list of countries after whose visits must be subject to 14 days of self-isolation.
“This situation should change. The Prime Minister of Latvia has also said that it is necessary to assess how Latvia could better protect itself without closing the borders. Unfortunately, no solution has been found in Europe at the moment and each country is doing something on its own, and airlines connecting different places in Europe. “This is very difficult,” said Gauss, noting that it is even more difficult for airBaltic, whose hub is Riga. The head of the airline said that, for example, you can fly from Germany to any destination. There are only certain countries at risk, and if someone returns from them, they must be quarantined or tested, but no one bans transport.
“But we are a Baltic airline and we cannot move with our planes, for example, to Germany and announce that we will now fly from there,” Gauss said. “I will emphasize that airBaltic will emerge from this crisis very strongly due to the actions we took at the outset. This is also confirmed by past experience, as demand was very high in July, when most flights took place, and so we are in our plans so far. “Yes, now many of the routes we flew to are back on the SPKC ‘s red list and flights had to be stopped, but that does not mean that demand has disappeared,” said the head of airBaltic.
It has already been reported that the airBaltic Group’s turnover in the first half of this year decreased by 63.6% to 78.713 million euros due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while the group’s losses increased almost seven times and amounted to 184.77 million euros. In the first half of the year, airBaltic carried 810,317 passengers, which was 64% less than in the same period last year due to Covid-19.
The number of flights decreased by 58% to 12,501. It was also reported that airBaltic’s audited turnover last year was 503.281 million euros, which is 23.1% more than in 2018, but the company suffered a loss of 7.729 million euros compared to the profit a year earlier.
The Latvian state owns 96.14% of the voting rights in the capital of airBaltic, but the financial investor, Danish businessman Lars Tusen, owns Aircraft Leasing 1 – 3.86%.
–
