In The Red: Croatia Airlines Reports $13 Million Loss

With the closing of the third quarter, Croatia Airlines has reported a net loss of $12.9 million (€13.1 million). Although the airline is witnessing signs of recovery from a particularly tough 2021, its financials have still not reached the levels of 2019. Let’s look closer at Croatia Airlines’ performance in the first nine months of 2022.

Heavy loss, but a solid third quarter

Croatia’s national carrier, Croatia Airlines, is struggling to recover from the COVID-19 crisis: by the end of the third quarter, the airline had accumulated a net loss of virtually $13 million.

Specifically, between January and September 2022, Croatia Airlines suffered a net loss of $12.9 million (€13.1 million), double the one the airline reported in 2019 – $6.4 million (€6.5 million). Nonetheless, the third-quarter result is promising if compared to the $22.1 million (€22.2 million) loss Croatia Airlines suffered in 2021. The Croatian carrier stated that its financial performance in the first nine months of 2022 has been negatively hit by the high fuel prices induced by the Ukrainian war, which weighed on the airline’s balance sheet by almost $23 million.

Photo: Alan Grubelić I Croatia Airlines

Although the overall financial result is preceded by a “-“, Croatia Airlines witnessed a solid third quarter. Indeed, between July and September 2022, the carrier reported a net profit of $6.5 million ($8.6 million). The third quarter is typically the strongest for Croatia Airlines, the flag carrier of a popular summer destination among Europeans. However, this third-quarter result is significant for the carrier because it has been the first profitable quarter for the airline since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020.

Croatia Airlines’ operations in numbers

Although it is true that Croatia Airlines still finds itself in the recovery process from the dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to highlight the positive trends that have characterized the airline so far.

Between January and September, Croatia Airlines carried 1,087,997 passengers, an impressive increase of 95.5% compared to the same period in 2021. However, the airline’s traffic during the first three quarters is still 36.1% down compared to the pre-pandemic year. Of all passengers carried until September, 24%, or 263,896, flew domestic routes, whereas 72%, or 783,635, took an international flight. Furthermore, the carrier’s operations are also fed by charter flights, representing 4% of all Croatia Airlines flights in 2022 so far.

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Both the domestic and international average load factors have witnessed an improvement; the former averages 56.5%, recovering 11.1 percentage points compared to last year, while the latter equals 61.7%, an increase of 9.2% on 2021. However, although both load factors improved vis-à-vis the previous year, they are still lower than in 2019. Namely, the domestic load factor is 12.5% lower, while the international one averaged 74% in the pre-pandemic year.

Photo: A. Grubelić I Croatia Airlines

Looking ahead, Croatia Airlines is optimistic. Indeed, bookings for flights between November 2022 – April 2023 have increased by 70% compared to the same period in 2021. Referring to the current booking trends, the airlines stated that the passengers’ purchasing behavior has changed compared to the pre-pandemic period in that dynamic late bookings have become increasingly more common. Therefore, even if bookings for November 2022 – April 2023 are still 30% lower than in November 2019 – April 2020, the airline is confident it will sell more tickets than the ones already sold.

Simple Flying reached out to Croatia Airlines for further comment. We will update the article with any additional announcements from the airline.

Source: exyuaviation.com