Iberian flag carrier TAP Air Portugal recorded "significant growth" in revenue in the first quarter of 2023 (Q1 2023), with €835.9 million reported, a 70.4% year-on-year increase and equivalent to 136% of Q1 2019.
The 3.51 million passengers TAP carried contributed more than €700 million of the revenue, the quarterly results showed, with maintenance accounting for €34.4 million and cargo over €48 million, the latter a near-25% year-on-year drop.
Operating costs amounted to €846.1 million, up 57.5% year-on-year, with fuel costs up 109.6%, or €145 million, contributing to TAP reporting a loss of €57.4 million.
However, the loss was a €64.3 million improvement year-on-year and almost €50 million better than the pre-Covid 2019 quarter.
Despite what it said was an "increase in recurrent operating costs", the airline reported a recurrent EBITDA of €120.1 million, which it said was "substantially" better than Q1 2022 and 2019.
The period ended with the airline in a "solid liquidity position" of €855.8 million, which chief executive Luís Rodrigues attributed to "continuous demand growth" and the carriage of more passengers than in Q1 2019 and 66% more than in Q1 2022.
Capacity exceeded "pre-crises" levels, reaching 109% of 2019 and up 38.8% year-on-year, with the load factor up 12.3 percentage points on 2022 and 3.8 percentage points better than in 2019.