Airberlin Q1 Net Loss Narrows; Consolidated Revenue Down 7%

(RTTNews) - airberlin (AIBEF.PK) reported a first-quarter net loss of 182.3 million euros compared to a loss of 210.1 million euros, previous year. The Group said its results in the first quarter were heavily influenced by the lengthy and detrimental codeshare debate. Loss per share was 1.62 euros compared to a loss of 1.85 euros, prior year.

EBIT was a loss of 172.2 million euros compared to a loss of 159.9 million euros, last year. The financial result amounted to a loss of 9.8 million euros as compared to a loss of 52.3 million euros in the previous year.

airberlin reported a decline in consolidated revenue of 7 percent to 737.1 million euros, during the first quarter of fiscal 2016. The capacity was reduced by 6 percent in the first quarter of 2016 and passenger volumes decreased accordingly by 6.8 percent. During the first quarter, passenger revenue declined by 9 percent to 630.3 million euros. Overall, ancillary revenue significantly improved by 20 percent to 49.71 million euros.

Stefan Pichler, CEO airberlin, said: "The underlying fundamentals of our business are moving in the right direction, and we will see greater improvements in 2016, particularly in the second half of the year. We also expect positive earnings effects from fuel and foreign exchange in an annual amount of approximately 250 million euros, as our hedging positions from prior periods expire."

The available seat kilometres decreased by 7.2 percent to 10.978 billion. The sold seat kilometres (RPK) fell by 7 percent to 9.15 billion. Load factor improved by 0.2 percentage points to 83.4 percent.