ATW Daily News

Clickair merger boosts Vueling's bottom line

Wednesday October 28, 2009

Vueling Airlines, which merged with Clickair in July (ATWOnline, July 13), posted a third-quarter operating profit of €68.1 million ($102.1 million) compared to EBIT of €24.7 in the year-ago period when it was an independent carrier. Revenue rose 68.6% year-over-year to €259.2 million and operating expenses increased 48.2% to €191.1 million. Unit revenue fell by just 1.3% to 6.97 euro cents as fuel surcharges rose, while CASK sank 13.2% to 5.14 euro cents thanks to dropping oil prices and "cautious" fuel hedges. Third-quarter capacity grew 70.8% to 3.72 billion ASKs as Vueling's fleet rose from 20 to 35 A320s. Traffic increased 75.5% to 2.97 billion RPKs and load factor gained 2.1 points to 80%. The LCC served 47 airports as of Sept. 30, 25 more than on the year-ago date. Operating profit for the nine months to Sept. 30 was €71.9 million compared to a loss of €18.7 million in the year-ago period. The Barcelona-based carrier said "no major changes in the demand situation are foreseen" for the fourth quarter. It expects 2010 results to be "even better" than 2009's.

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