Air Serbia has registered its best financial results since its relaunch almost five years ago on the back of rising revenue and cuts in expenses. The Serbian national carrier recorded a net profit of sixteen million euros in 2017, while revenue reached 283 million euros. The result represents an improvement of over 1.000% on the previous year. The Serbian carrier's revenue increased 4% on 2016, primarily as a result of improved ticket sales, which were up 3%, and increased revenue from charter traffic, which grew 23%. The airline's EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation, and restructuring or rent costs) stood at 55.5 million euros, up 20%. This was achieved as a result of cost cutting measures which began to be implemented last year, as well as the lower cost of fuel.
| Year | Net profit / loss (million €) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | ▼ 73 |
| 2014 | ▲ 2.7 |
| 2015 | ▲ 3.9 |
| 2016 | ▲ 0.9 |
| 2017 | ▲ 16.0 |
In line with the transaction agreement between the Serbian government and minority shareholder Etihad Airways, Air Serbia was the beneficiary of state aid in 2017 to the amount of 20.8 million euros, which is down from 41.8 million it received the previous year. The airline saw revenue growth in almost all sectors of its business, including passenger services, charter services, cargo, expired tickets and bookings. At the same time, expenses decreased 13.2%, with savings made in handling, taxes, maintenance, frequent flyer program and others. The biggest reduction in costs was recorded in catering where expenses stood at 1.1 million euros, down 67.8% on 2016. At the end of 2017, Air Serbia mainline had 1.488 employees, including 226 pilots and 323 cabin crew members. Together with its subsidiaries Air Serbia Catering and Air Serbia Ground Handling Services, the company counted 2.339 employees. The airline's annual financial results were audited by KPMG.
In 2017, Air Serbia handled 2.617.000 passengers, which was down 0.2% on the year before. The number of operated flights decreased 5.8% on 2016, standing at 15.594, while the airline maintained services to 42 destinations, down from 44. The number of operational aircraft remained unchanged at 21. Network capacity expanded 4% to 4.24 billion Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), as a result of increased capacity on the airline's narrow-body Airbus fleet following their refurbishment, as well as the first full year of transatlantic operations. Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK), showing the number of kilometres travelled by paying passengers, grew 6% year-on-year to 3.11 billion. The airline's average cabin load factor stood at 73.4% in 2017, up one point from 72.4% the previous year. Air Serbia's cargo uplift increased 25% to 6.158 tons, while punctuality (the amount of flights which departed or landed within fifteen minutes of the scheduled time) stood at 83%, which is down 1% on 2016. The airline's dedicated charter brand Aviolet operated 749 flights in 2017 and carried 174.000 passengers.
wow
ReplyDeleteYea, AirSerbia is doing sooooo god that Etihad is pulling out of the partnership.
DeleteAgain this crap about Etihad pulling out. Do you people never get tired of trolling?
DeleteThey are pulling out their management and keeping their shares. But Air Serbia is profitable. So, why is Etihad pulling out?
DeleteProbably because they completed their job and no longer need to be hands on,,,, they can hand it over to local management and pull their people back into HQ
DeleteFake news. Etihad is staying in AirSerbia!
DeleteWell that was unexpected.
ReplyDeleteputting it mildly.
DeleteIt's a lie.
DeleteSo roughly 4.8 mio minus?
ReplyDeleteExactly
Deletethey took additional 12 mil€ from the state and used it to lower expenses
Delete"Tokom 2017. godine, Društvo je primilo RSD 1.431 milion od Republike Srbije, a na ime podrške
razvoju saobraćajne mreže, a u cilju podsticaja i razvoja turizma i opšte povezanosti Srbije u
skladu sa Strategijom razvoja turizma. Navedeni iznos je prikazan kao umanjenje već nastalih
povezanih troškova"
also they calculated positive +9mil€ effect from exchange rate differences
They can't manage exchange rate fluctuations but like all airlines, they bank the benefit and also take a hit when it moves against them .... other airlines, even with exchange rate movement in their favour, can't make a profit, so good luck to them !!
DeleteSeems like the consolidation measures worked. I expect we will see JU grow again next year.
ReplyDeleteHope so. I think we will see YYZ launched and maybe a few new regional routes. Hopefully those A320neos will come.
DeleteCongratulations Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteOn what? False news? Etihad is pulling out of the partnership with AirSerbia. Why do you think that is, too much profit?
DeleteI hope the moderator will delete the comments of this serial troll. Stop spreading misinformation.
Delete"Pulling out of partnership?"
DeleteYou are obviously illiterate, or selectively literate. And, most obviously with underlying agendas.
They are not pulling out completely as they can not afford another PR disaster. Etihad has already made a healthy return on its 40 mil $ investment so now they can just sit with their 49% stake and still exploit all lucrative aspects of the partnership.
DeleteInteresting to see that passenger numbers were not affected greatly last year despite the gloom and doom scenarios we read in the comments.
ReplyDeletecapacity went up
DeleteSo it turns out they had the largest profit and people were writing that they are about to go bankrupt. Also interesting that state aid halved.
ReplyDeleteThey actually had a LOSS.
DeleteRead again the newspost.
Yes, a loss that was greatly diminished compared to any previous year.
DeleteYou just said that they had the "largest profit". Now you realise that it was actually a loss?
DeleteLOL!
Take your medicine and stop with your hysterical rants. "LOL!"
DeleteEat your sandwich and stop with the propaganda.
DeleteBut if the results are so good why did they switch to a hybrid business model?
ReplyDeleteSo they can be even better ;)
DeleteNo need to be sarcastic or nasty. The fact is almost all airlines are going hybrid.
DeleteCooking the books much?
ReplyDeleteEven if they fixed their results, you do realize state aid was halved while overall results improved?
DeleteWe still need to see if it was really half of that in 2016. More comprehensive analysis of the financial report is needed.
DeleteCharters seem to be a cash cow for them.
ReplyDelete+1 easy money. No wonder they took a B737 out of retirement so they could have an extra plane for charters this summer.
DeleteSo, the state aid has to be deducted from those figures, which would translate into some 4 million loss?
ReplyDeleteSurprise, bi**hes :)
ReplyDeleteWhat surprise?
DeleteThat they made money and that they didn't lose it like many predicted.
DeleteThe math I've learned taught me that 16-20,8=-4,8.
DeleteSeems like you stopped at Math 101 and didn't reach accounting.
DeleteAnyway, it's tragic how you NEVER wrote such comments when it's OU and their own accounting wizardry in question.
Also, do you mind telling me how they performed last year and let me know if they are actually improving or not?
Since I knew you gonna either call me a hater or call out OU, let me just refresh your memory: People ARE calling out OU for their books cooking and only few of them are, just like you when it comes to JU - are cheering for them and ignoring the facts that that wasn't a clean profit. In one case it's selling the slots and in the other it's the states' aid.
DeleteNow go back to your cheer routine and Math 101 teaching.
How are slot sale and state aid the same? They are not. JU isn't selling family silver to stay alive. They still have it in case they might need it down the road.
DeleteNow go and learn some common sense 101. I expect you to start commenting the same on OU the next time they present their results.
They don't have to sell a thing since they have bottomless funds from the state and cash to throw it in.
DeleteExpect away. Couldn't care less. Buh bye!
People predicted Air Serbia will be in the red even with the State aid, so this indeed comes as a surprise for those predicting negative balance :)
DeleteFrishki, why so pressed?
DeleteYea, AirSerbia is doing sooooo god that Etihad is pulling out of the partnership.
Delete
Deletethey took additional 12 mil€ and used it to lower expenses
"Tokom 2017. godine, Društvo je primilo RSD 1.431 milion od Republike Srbije, a na ime podrške
razvoju saobraćajne mreže, a u cilju podsticaja i razvoja turizma i opšte povezanosti Srbije u
skladu sa Strategijom razvoja turizma. Navedeni iznos je prikazan kao umanjenje već nastalih
povezanih troškova"
Why don't you inform yourself before commenting on here? They are just terminating the consultancy agreement, they are still keeping their 49%.
DeleteUmrece dusmani.. haha
Delete"At the end of 2017, Air Serbia mainline had 1.488 employees, including 226 pilots and 323 cabin crew members. Together with its subsidiaries Air Serbia Catering and Air Serbia Ground Handling Services, the company counted 2.339 employees."
ReplyDeleteThis is way too much for an airline of its size.
+1000
DeleteI think Aegean has similar number of employees but carries 6 times more pax!
SMFH.
@AnonymousJuly 2, 2018 at 9:05 AM
DeleteYep, a worrying factor in future profitability.
They'll need to let go few companies or reduce workforce across the board.
Was looking recently at Air France, KLM and Ilitalia workforce size, and wonder how can they afford to maintain such large workforce,same goes with the SAS, Lufthansa and BA.
In case of Alitalia,they need to let go at least 5000 staff, if not more.
No wonder Alitalia is loosing money left, right and center.
No idea how many staff air serbia would need to lose,but if OU has 950 staff, about the same size airline, perhaps this should be an indicator. 1400 staff need to go.
Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines are not the same size since Air Serbia handles half a million passengers more and has 6 more aircraft (8 for six months of the year). Also Croatia Airlines does not have a catering division and its catering is outsourced, unlike Air Serbia.
DeleteThat said I do think its workforce is too large. and should head towards OU levels.
DeleteI think they actually transferred ground staff to the airport. Wonder how much is airport charging for these services as that is a form of subsidy as well.
DeleteMore profitable than Etihad.
ReplyDeleteLol
DeleteCongratulations to JU. Seems like things are looking up now that Dane is gone.
ReplyDeleteI think it also helped that since last year Dinar got stronger by some 3% compared to the Euro and some 22% compared to Dollar. This means that costs in the US related to JFK went down.
Well this result was achieved during Dane's tenure.
DeleteImagine what will happen now that he is gone!
DeleteGood to see LF improving with added capacity.
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia is trolling everyone.
ReplyDeleteWhen they completely cut catering, no wonder they made such big savings in this sector.
ReplyDeleteQueue:
ReplyDelete1. Dane negativity which he was still around to achieve this result.
2. Creative Accounting as done by a world renowned auditing firm (KPMG)
3. Those tax payers who saved 20 million this year
16-20.8 = -4.8
ReplyDeletegreat profit. but hey they are improving
With an that stat-aid Serbia could do a lot more. For instance subsidize LCC with 10mio and give 10mio to the poor. The number at the airport would be at least the same. And the hidden money would still land in the right pockets :)
ReplyDeleteJU's subsidies are nothing compared to what they give foreign investors or other failing government businesses.
DeleteWhy would you give 10 million to LCCs instead of National Carrier that employs 2500 people who are citizens of this country and support their families with that $$$?
DeleteIf we, taxpayers, are to fund someone, I would rather fund Air Serbia than Wizz.
Just not true from the economic perspective:
Delete1. LCC would also employ people.
2. The less employed people could use their skills in other industry.
3. The traveller would have better prices.
4. The rest of the fund could be used on other causes.
Please stop with that, that an national carrier is needed. Only case where it's so, is when there wouldn't be a LCC who would close the gap (even with subsidies).
Yes - Hungarian, Irish or German people - not Serbian.
DeleteOh cut the crap with "we need to provide aid which will keep xyz jobs". Tax money should go to supporting connectivity, opportunities for passengers, ability to travel at affordable prices.
DeleteFinally !!!
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a big improvement in financial results, even though results are negative when you exclude state aid.
The question is, given the cuts in network, can the model sustain the results as the effects of network cuts will take some time to fully trickle down. If JU can operate with subsidies of 5-10 million , that would OK.
my2cents
So JP is the only airline out of the 'big Balkan three' that is not making profit, but somehow JP is considered to be the most stable?
ReplyDeleteBig Balkan Three? You mean ex YU three?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJP also made profit in 2016, 3,3 mio eur. This is the last year results are published, but i can ashure you in 2017 it will be positive to. Of course like in OU and JU profit is result of creative accounting than good work
DeleteSome dodgy accounting done by KPMG!
ReplyDeleteAs much as we love our carriers and our region we have to admit that there is still too many carriers in Europe and we need further consolidation. All our carriers are in the red and the big question remains: should be air transport excluded from government subsidies or should air transport be regarded as public transport and be open for state control? Its defimitely distorting the markets but on the other hand OU JP JU are not much than a water drop on a hot stone. And i am pretty much sure that if LH wld get in serious troubles, Germany would not let them fall.
ReplyDeleteWell if those results are true, they won't have a problem taking delivery of their new aircraft!
ReplyDeleteOk, so in 2016 they lost about 40 million and in 2017 about 4 million. That is a good improvement indeed. I hope they manage to get their act together and in 2018 or, at the latest, in 2019 finally make a real profit.
ReplyDeleteIn the financial report it says that they have made a codeshare agreement with Hainan in November 2017, although that it is still waiting for approval from Chinese government.
ReplyDeleteLoss of 4.8 million is surprisingly good result ("profit" - state aid)!
ReplyDeleteNow they should reconsider their network, shameful new "products" that have degraded the brand and find the way to be a decent company without subsidies. This actually looks promising. Positively surprised!
Ne znam cemu sve to. Ni 40 miliona jura nije neki znacajni gubitak jos manje 4 miliona gde se razbacuju milijardama na nepotrebne infrastrukturne projekte kao autoput do Bugarske koja ga ne gradi prema Srbiji vec prema Rumuniji. Samo jos da cujemo rasplakane poreske neplatise.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good overall result. The state subsidies are going down. They still made a loss (this year) but everything is predicting they will indeed next year make a profit without state subsidies. Good work Air Serbia - greetings from Croatia.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why are people so upset by the goverments aid. They are ok when it's given to the Wizz or other LCC, but it's wrong when it's given to a NATIONAL carrier which employs 2500 people in Serbia. As a tax payer I am happy that my money goes to the AS which carries our flag around the world and not to Wizz or some foregin carrier
ReplyDelete+1
Deleteseriously who the f**k cares abot flags
Delete+1 for "who the f**k cares about flags"
DeleteAnd what about some 250.000 people who lost their jobs at the same time and there was nobody to help them?
DeleteGlad for Serbia that state aid is still possible without barriers towards their flag carrier - unlike in all EU member states.
DeleteEven with the aid this is a significant improvement in results.
ReplyDeleteVeoma raduje ova objava na ovom portalu da Er Srbija ide uzlaznom linijom. Obzirom da je nasledila sve nedace Jata i dugove koje je preuzela drzava, razvija postepeno pozitivan nacin poslovanja. Nazalost, vece investiranje u prosirenju flote i novih linija za sada je tesko moguce. Zbog pomenutih dugova ostavljenih drzavi. Sto je u proslim vremenima i sama kriva.
ReplyDeleteNaravno da nastoji postepeno prosiririvati flotu za servisiranje sest do sedam destinacija u dugolinijskom saobracaju. U srednjorocnom perijodu. Sa ojacanjem regionalnih i Evropskih linija, stvorice se prilika za privatizaciju. tek tada bi nacionalni prevoznik u rukama renomiranih investitora, Er Srbija bi bila vidljiva na sirem trzistu. Posebno je dobro sto su krticari naziva, imena Air Serbia, zaboravili na staru 'zabrinutost'. Eto hvala Bogu, brend Er Srbije stremi uzlazno. Verujem da i Dane Kondic je dobar deo te price. Negde izmedju stare Otadzbine i juznog Pacifika gradi novu uspesnu pricu. Postujuci Er Srbiju. Sto i sam cinim.
iz zimskog Sidneja,
Rodney.
it seems that actual loss is -26mil€ but we have masters of accounting on the job:
ReplyDeletethey took additional 12 mil€ and used it to lower expenses
"Tokom 2017. godine, Društvo je primilo RSD 1.431 milion od Republike Srbije, a na ime podrške
razvoju saobraćajne mreže, a u cilju podsticaja i razvoja turizma i opšte povezanosti Srbije u
skladu sa Strategijom razvoja turizma. Navedeni iznos je prikazan kao umanjenje već nastalih
povezanih troškova"
+16 mil profit
-21mil€ state subsidies
-12mil€ of state aid used to lower expense
-9mil€ exchchange rate differences
----
-26 mil€ loss
also negative cash flow
also the debt is worrying
what particularly pisses me off is this masked state aid.
It didn'y take long for cracks to appear. 'When something looks too good...'
DeleteThanks for pointing this out.
One way or another, net loss is shrinking. That is good and deserves some credit.
DeleteAnd I see nothing bad in providing some reasonable amount of state aid to a state-owned airline.
Čeliku da li si ti uopšte pročitao šta si napisao ? Pa gdje tu piše AirSrbia je primila 1.4 miliona ? Zašto kopiraš od nekoga nešto šta nema nikakve veze i postavljaš izmišljene statistike koji ni mala deca ne bi napisala. Stvarno ovdje ima svašta. Ja ću samo reći da su ovo dobri rezultati i da samo tako nastave.
Deletetu zapravo piše da je primila 1,4 milijarde, ali se nadam da si uspeo da zaradiš sendvič današnji
Delete1.431 million RSD je 1.431.000 RSD ili 1.431.000.000 RSD?
DeleteMislim jel ovde tačka decimalna ili ne?
ta tačka odvaja hiljade
Delete-9mil€ exchchange rate differences
DeleteConstant currency reporting is non-GAAP. There is no 9mil eur line item.
-12mil€ of state aid used to lower expense
Legal and widely acceptable. Also reported by Ryanair, Wizzair and many other airlines.
oh yes it is legal and nobody is going to jail, but i am pointing out mechanism with which they are covering up their losses.
Deletethis is why you have all the "oh it looks better" reactions.
if there as no state aid, company would have massive loss and people would be crying end of the world here.
You object when Air Serbia does it but you don't when others do? Why single out Air Serbia? Oh please don't tell me you are just a concerned taxpayer!
Deletesorry i don't understand your argument.
Deleteis that some last resort pathetic try when you cannot continue against simple facts?
its a simple argument. i didnt see you comment in a negative matter when others use the same type of subsidies. what do you have against air serbia in particular, but doesnt bother you when W6 gets subsidy in SKP or BUD, or when YM gets it in TGD? double standards?
DeleteBusy day at BEG today. Not only will JU operate 9 charter flights but there are also:
ReplyDelete1. Three widebodies (A332, A332 and A313)
2. Etihad started its second flight
3. Lot is sending E95 and E70.
4. LH is increasing MUC to A320.
5. RO is sending its Atr-72 in stead of the 42.
I can't wait for June numbers to be out.
5. KK A321
DeleteOne of them is A333 (HU), not A332
DeleteYes, my bad, I only saw my mistake after published the list. :)
DeleteI am really surprised how well Tarom is doing. Not only have they increased BEG to 9 weekly but they have sent a larger plane today!
This whole week JU flight to Dubrovnik is either sold out or has a few empty seats! I hooooope and pray to all Gods out there that they keep it throughout the year.
DeleteSix weekly flights with great prices for transfers. Not really surprising!
DeleteAre there any new routes planned to open for Air Serbia? Considering they are recovering financially, now might be the time to start thinking of new routes.
ReplyDeleteIKA, YYZ
DeleteI was certain they would post a loss. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteit is a loss. only in state subsidies the received 33mil euro
DeleteDa, Rodney, Dane sigurno gradi neku uspesnu pricu negde, velika je steta sto je otisao … Mozda ponovo dobija pomoc neke drzave … Iskreno, nije problem sto je Air Serbia dobila i dobija pomoc, problem je katastrofalan ugovor s Etihadom i to sto nas lazu da je sve med i mleko ...
ReplyDeleteAre these numbers with or without their AirSerbia Long Haul division included? Mr President said few weeks ago that he thinks they might be green if you exclude ASL LH from calculations.
ReplyDeleteO bože otkud ti sada ta priča ? Vučko je rekao da je teško napraviti profit na liniji za JFK i to je to.
ReplyDeleteFalse data :D
ReplyDeleteSta se desava sa novim a320neo? Dali JU moze da ocekuje novu flotu?
ReplyDeleteAdmin, Petar Celik posted almost identical comment three times. Your own rule about it says: Repetitive posts copied and pasted or duplicated by a single or multiple readers.
ReplyDeleteAdmin please follow your own rules, thank you.
OK so basically they have spend 1.1 mil on catering which is roughly 1/3 of what they used to spend before. It means that all this brand degradation and bad press received, stagnating passenger numbers since they introduced the new "possibilities" were to save some 2 -2.5 mil eur?! Incredible!
ReplyDelete