airBaltic turns itself around, achieves a profit

airBaltic (airBaltic.com) (Riga) has been successful in turning around the fortunes of the company by achieving a profit through its reorganization program. The airline issued the following statement:

“In July 2012, Latvian airline airBaltic reported a profit, as summer travel peaks and airBaltic ReShape restructuring programme gathers pace.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “We are delighted to see that airBaltic ReShape restructuring program brings consistently better net results every month. We are very satisfied to achieve a net profit of LVL 1.4 million.”

In July 2012, airBaltic operated 4,520 flights, or 19% less than in July 2011 when airBaltic operated 5,590 flights.

The airline carried 322,430 passengers in July. During the first seven months of 2012, airBaltic transported a total of 1,732,920 passengers.

The airline’s load factor, which represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of available seats, was stable high at a level of 80% in July 2012, compared to the same month a year ago. The airline’s load factor for the first seven months of 2012 was at a level of 73%, unchanged compared to the same period last year.

The 15-minute flight punctuality indicator for airBaltic was at a level of 89.5% in July 2012. This means that 89 of every 100 airBaltic flights in July departed at the planned time or with a delay of no more than 15 minutes.”

July ’12
Number of flights 4 520
Number of passengers 322 430
Load Factor 80%
January-July ’12
Number of flights 28 270
Number of passengers 1 732 920
Load factor 73%

Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren. Part of the success has been the transition to more fuel efficient aircraft and dropping unprofitable routes. Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) YL-BAE (msn 4289) climbs away from Stockholm (Arlanda) bound for the Riga hub.

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