Tunisair reports ‘steady’ revenue rise in first quarter

Antoine Boureau/Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

• Tunisair revenue up 5.6%
• Revenue per passenger up 4.5%
• Flights and seats increase for summer

Tunisian national flag carrier Tunisair has reported a “steady” start to the year with a 5.6 percent increase in revenue for the first quarter.

The airline is attempting to restructure in order to resolve legacy financial difficulties and refresh its fleet. Revenues rose to TND 316 million ($100 million) at the end of March, according to the latest financial results from the company.

Details on profit or loss over the period were not disclosed.

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Passenger numbers were up marginally by 0.8 percent to 516,000 for the period, while the average revenue per passenger (excluding taxes) on regular flights went up by 4.5 percent to TND485.

Debt improved by almost 4 percent due to the repayment of existing loans.

John Grant, partner at Midas Aviation and an AGBI columnist, said the results were “steady rather than anything spectacular”.

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The airline, which has a fleet of 34 aircraft, saw maintenance and repair costs increase due to the repair of two engines. There was a 2 percent increase in fuel costs and a 6 percent rise in personnel costs as a result of salary increases.

Tunisair has scheduled 17,068 flights and provided 2.7 million seats for its summer programme, which is up 19 percent on last year with a number of routes reopened, including Lisbon, Zurich, Madrid, Paris and Casablanca.

“Planned increases on a range of core international routes this summer will increase productivity and should have a positive impact on the bottom line for 2024 assuming no geopolitical events impact their operation,” said Grant.