Aegean Airlines sees Q2 revenue plunge 88%, flights cut by 82%
Aegean Group saw consolidated revenue plunge by 88 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2019, the airline announced in a statement on Monday.
Total revenue was just €40.4 million, a decline in revenue of €307 million from the previous year. Pre-tax losses (excluding extraordinary) stood at €58.7 million, down from a pre-tax profit of €31.5 million in the second quarter of 2019.
Total first half 2020 consolidated revenue fell by 64 per cent to €187.4 million and pre-tax losses for the period were at €132.3 million. Net losses after tax stood at €158.8 million in the first half compared with losses of €13 million in the second quarter of last year.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges for the airline sector, especially in the second quarter for all Europe. Travel restrictions and local shutdowns imposed by governments during the period caused the cessation of effectively all of the company’s flight activity,” the statement said.
The total number of flights operated fell by 82 per cent in the second quarter (with a reduction of 95 per cent and 92 per cent for the months of April and May respectively), while passenger traffic fell 92 per cent.
“Due to travel restrictions the second quarter of the year was a period with essentially zero activity. Our efforts were primarily directed towards cost management as well as establishing and implementing strict protocols for the safety of our passengers and crews,” Dimitris Gerogiannis, CEO of AEGEAN, commented.
“By end of June with the passing of the first wave of the pandemic and the partial lifting of travel restrictions, we made a significant effort to rebuild our activity, eventually covering 84 destinations from Athens and 52 from our regional bases,” he said.
But, since early August with the resurgence of the pandemic a new round of dissimilar, uncoordinated measures across the region, once again limited access and demand for travel. As a result, we operated less than 50 per cent of our scheduled activity in August with particularly low load factors for the period,” he added.