Aegean’s financial results for fiscal year 2017 show an 11% rise in consolidated revenue at €1,127.6m. Performance in international routes has boosted consolidated EBITDA at €120m, 56% higher than the previous year. Pre-tax earnings reached €85.8m, 66% higher than 2016, while net earnings after tax increased by 87% at €60.4m.
Total traffic reached 13.2m passengers, 6% higher than 2016. International network continued to be the main growth driver, with traffic reaching 7.3m passengers, 9% higher than 2016. It is worth highlighting that back in 2013, upon Olympic Air’s acquisition, aggregate Aegean and Olympic Air international traffic stood only at 4.3m passengers.
Domestic traffic increased by 3% to 5.9m passengers, despite the increased activity of competitors, as connecting flows through Athens to the islands and lower fare offers have stimulated demand.
Higher traffic and improved operating profitability were mainly the result of efficient network management, which have led to higher load factors, as overall flight activity has not increased. Specifically, load factor increased to 83.2% from 77.4%, despite the intense seasonality of demand.
Operating cashflow has doubled to €120m from €59.7m in 2016, with cash and cash equivalent rising to €307.4m[1] at the end of 2017. During 2017 the company paid out the last remaining installment of the consideration agreed for the acquisition of Olympic Air.
Improved demand for Greece as well as the maturity of AEGEAN’s international operations has offset the significant loss in Public Service Obligations related subsidies which were effectively discontinued as of October 2016.