Icelandair reported the final three months of 2022 as its best quarter since 2015, with passenger traffic up 50% year-on-year and income topping $290 million, up almost $100 million on the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021.
Capacity in Q4 2022 reached 95% of 2019, with unit revenue up 13% year-on-year, the carrier reported, saying it had a "strong balance sheet" with liquidity of $318 million by the end of 2022.
Assets amounted to $1.4bn at the end of 2022, up $200 million over 12 months, with operating assets up $114.3 million to just over half a billion dollars.
However it reported a "negative effect on EBIT" (earnings before interest and tax), estimated around $7 million, in part due to the island's usual harsh winter weather disrupting travel. Fuel costs were up significantly during 2022, the carrier reported, with a spend of $86.4 million compared to $42.5 million in 2021.
Even with the prospects of inflation and rising salary costs, the carrier said the outlook for 2023 was positive, with EBIT expected to be in the 4-6% range, after 2022 saw 3.7 million passengers carried on what was a doubling of scheduled flights compared to 2021.
It said it expects to take delivery of four Boeing 737 MAX, taking its fleet to 20 of the aircraft and underpinning the opening of routes to Detroit, Barcelona, Crete, Prague and Tel Aviv.
It said it had signed an "insurance-backed financing agreement concerning two B737 MAX8 aircraft" which are owned by the carrier, with the transaction priced at "around $67 million".
“The year 2022 was characterised by a great turnaround of our business. Strong revenue generation with record passenger revenue in the second half of the year and significant EBIT improvement shows that our business model has proven its worth yet again," said chief executive and president Bogi Niels Bogason,
The carrier hired around a thousand staff in 2022 as tourism to Iceland recovered, with around 740,000 visitors arriving on Icelandair.
Capacity measured in available seat kilometres increased by 48% year-on-year and reached 95% of 2019 levels in the fourth quarter, the company reported.
Revenue from aircraft and aircrew leases came to $17.6 million, a 23% year-on-year increase due to higher charter sales.
The cargo division saw a decline, however, with freight volume, measured in freight ton kilometres (FTK), down 17% year-on-year, with a B757 out of action for a time due to maintenance work.