- Half-year result 2024: Adjusted EBIT at -62 million euros
- Long-haul fleet renewal and new destination Boston successfully launched
- 6.5 million passengers in the first half of 2024
- Award for Austrian Cabin Crew as „Best Cabin Crew in Europe 2024“
- CEO Annette Mann: ‘The first half of the year fell well short of expectations following the intense labour dispute and the increasingly difficult framework conditions. In the second half of the year, we must therefore work at full power to achieve a high double-digit result in order to create the conditions for further investments in the future.’
Even though the start of the year is seasonally weak at Austrian Airlines, a number of factors led to an Adjusted EBIT totalling EUR -62 million in the first six months of the current year. This means that the result for the first half of the year fell well short of the red-white-red airline’s expectations. In addition to the main driver of the negative result, the wage dispute that lasted several months at the beginning of the year, the first half of 2024 brought with it numerous other challenges. These primarily included the situation in the Middle East, the weather conditions in Europe, the disproportionate rise in location costs coupled with stagnating ticket prices and two lengthy outages in the Austrian Airlines fleet. In addition, the start-up investments in fleet growth on long-haul routes with the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners were also reflected in the result for the first half of 2024.
The results in detail
In the first six months of 2024, Austrian Airlines’ annual revenue rose slightly from EUR 1.064 billion in the previous year to EUR 1.070 billion (+1 per cent). Total revenue increased by 1 per cent to EUR 1.1 billion, while total expenses rose by 8 per cent to EUR 1.2 billion. Austrian Airlines’ Adjusted EBIT therefore totalled EUR -62 million, compared with EUR +15 million in the first half of 2023. As at 30 June 2024, Austrian Airlines employed 6,204 people (+5%). This growth is primarily due to the increased staffing requirements resulting from the introduction of the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner long-haul aircraft.
Over the course of the first six months, the number of seat kilometers increased by 8% to 12.5 billion (1st half-year 2023: 11.6 billion seat kilometers). The load factor fell by 1.7 percentage points from 80.0 to 78.3 per cent. 98.3 per cent of the Austrian Airlines flight schedule was flown regularly. Passenger numbers rose by 6 per cent year-on-year to 6.498 million.
The full focus is now on a successful second half of the year
‘The first half of the year fell well short of expectations following the intense labour dispute and the increasingly difficult operating conditions. In the second half of the year, we must therefore work at full power to achieve a high double-digit result in order to create the conditions for further investments in the future’, emphasizes Austrian Airlines CEO Annette Mann. She continues: ‘The reasons for the weak first half-year show that we are confronted with many framework conditions that we can hardly influence ourselves. If we are not confronted with external challenges such as the weather or the situation in the Middle East, we can see that our flight operations are extremely stable and reliable. This gives us great confidence for the second half of the year.’
Proud of Skytrax award for Austrian Airlines cabin crews
In the first half of 2024, Austrian Airlines started flying the new Boeing 787-9 long-haul aircraft, the so-called Dreamliners. Two of these Dreamliners have already been in service for several weeks, primarily to North America, offering passengers a completely new flight experience. The other nine planned Dreamliners will gradually replace Austrian Airlines’ existing long-haul fleet by 2028.
In addition to the new fleet members, there is another reason to celebrate in the red-white-red airline’s flight operations: The cabin crew was recently honoured as ‘Best Cabin Crew in Europe 2024’ at the Skytrax World Airline Awards. ‘We are delighted that our cabin crew colleagues have been recognized. This award is also underlined by the satisfaction ratings of our passengers. At the same time, we are endeavouring to score points with our passengers not only with our service, but also with our punctuality. As in the previous year, we want to be one of the most punctual airlines in Europe for the year as a whole’, says COO Francesco Sciortino.
Route network is being constantly expanded
Austrian has added three new destinations to its flight schedule in the first half of 2024: Boston, Bremen and Tbilisi. In addition to an expansion of connections to the Austrian federal states, the winter flight schedule also includes the addition of another destination in Finnish Lapland, namely the city of Ivalo. Since 1 July, another long-haul destination, Boston in North America, has been served as a year-round destination up to six times a week. Austrian Airlines currently flies to 18 destinations intercontinentally and offers its guests a destination portfolio of over 125 destinations.
Austrian Airlines CCO Michael Trestl: ‘Over the past six months, we have made a number of further improvements, innovations and adaptations to our flight program. We have successfully started the introduction of our new long-haul aircraft, the Dreamliner, and since 1 July we have been flying to Boston, a new destination that has been very well received by our guests. In addition, we are currently endeavouring to connect the federal states in Austria even better to the Lufthansa Group’s dense flight network. We are doing this on the one hand with co-operations such as those with ÖBB, and on the other hand with targeted solutions that we find to meet the needs of the federal states, such as the recent connection of Linz Airport to the Frankfurt hub. As usual, our overriding goal is our top priority: Austrian is and will remain the clear number 1 in Vienna.’
Outlook for the current financial year
After a weak first half of the year, it is all the more important to give our best in the second half. ‘In addition to continued stable flight operations and a high level of customer satisfaction, we will continue to focus on digitalizing our processes and increasing efficiency. The high location costs continue to be a challenge that we as a company must consistently tackle. We also expect the future Austrian government to take urgent measures to strengthen the competitiveness of our location’, concludes CEO Annette Mann.
Overview of key facts and figures first half year 2024 (rounded):
| 1-6 2024 | 1-6 2023 | Change YoY | |
| Revenue in € million | 1,070 | 1,064 | +1% |
| Adj. total operating revenue in € million | 1,103 | 1,093 | +1% |
| Adj. total operating expenditures in € million | 1,166 | 1,078 | +8% |
| Adjusted EBIT in € million | -62 | 15 | – |
| EBIT in € million | -65 | 15 | – |
| Passengers in thousands | 6,498 | 6,128 | +6% |
| Available seat kilometers (ASK) in million | 12,530 | 11,644 | +8% |
| Capacity utilization (passenger load factor) in % | 78.3 | 80.0 | -1,7pp |
| Number of flights | 55,034 | 52,641 | +5% |
| Fleet size (fleet in operation) | 68 | 65 | +3 |
| Regularity of operation | 98.3% | 99.0% | -0,7pp |
| Punctuality on departure | 80.0% | 82.0% | -2,0pp |
| Punctuality on arrival | 84.6% | 86.5% | -1,9pp |
Overview of key facts and figures Q2 2024 (rounded)
| Q2 2024 | Q2 2023 | Change YoY | |
| Revenue in € million | 667 | 664 | +0% |
| Adj. total operating revenue in € million | 688 | 680 | +1% |
| Adj. total operating expenditures in € million | 628 | 592 | +6% |
| Adjusted EBIT in € million | 60 | 88 | -32% |
| EBIT in € million | 59 | 88 | -33% |
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