Alitalia widens third-quarter net profit to €39 million

Alitalia 777-200. Photo: By Rob Finlayson.

Alitalia posted a €39 million ($54.4 million) net profit for the third quarter, significantly widened from the €1 million profit in the year-ago period. EBIT rose year-on-year from €15 million to €56 million and revenue increased 15% to €971 million.

The carrier said the recovery in demand from the intercontinental and international market continued while domestic demand started to show some growth. It carried 7.1 million passengers during the three months, up 11% on a year earlier, with enplanements on intercontinental routes increasing by 8.3%, 13.8% on international routes and 10.3% on domestic routes. It claims it increased its domestic market share to 53%. The load factor was 76%, up 1.7 points on the year-ago period.

For the nine months ending Sept. 30, AZ remained in the red with a €125 million deficit. This compares to a net loss of €323 million in the year-ago period. Operating loss came in at €73 million, a marked improvement on the €258 million negative EBIT posted in the year-ago period. Revenue was up 15.1% to €2.46 billion and passengers carried rose 6.2% to 17.7 million.  The carrier, in which Air France KLM Group holds 25%, noted that the “significant improvement” of financial results versus last year was achieved despite the negative effects of exchange rates, increase in fuel costs, and reduction in “contributory benefits” which pushed costs up by some €150 million on last year. 
The carrier was upbeat on its full-year outlook, and said that “given the positive trend in sales and income, Alitalia’s year-end results are forecast to be better than expected and the operating break-even target to be reached in 2011 is confirmed.”