The new boss of the AUA wants to restore the airline quickly

Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO of Austrian Airlines Photo: Lufthansa [19659005] Alexis von Hoensbroech is now at the head of Austrian Airlines. He wanted to make the company profitable quickly, said Hoensbroech yesterday when presenting the half-yearly figures of the AUA. This is necessary too. In the Lufthansa Kingdom, the AUA is the least profitable airline.

"The AUA is a rising airline," said astrophysicist Hoensbroech yesterday. This dynamic will continue even if it can come to "one or the other turbulence."

In the Lufthansa performance sky, the AUA is flying quite low, all other sister companies (Lufthansa German Airlines, Swiss, Eurowings) are more profitable. For the red-white-red airline to follow its course and make it "ready for investment", it has "the unique idea". Hoensbroech, who has been a board member of Lufthansa Cargo, has signed a three-year contract that will likely last for four to five years, he said.

A more precise strategic concept is expected by the end of the year. Until then, he wants to "get to know the company and its employees". That investment in new aircraft, depends on the performance of AAU: "Success makes bady," said Hoensbroech.

AUA believes that low-cost airlines

The rush among the airlines in Vienna will be felt, of course, the AUA but not to be confused. The AUA brand is very strong, and "we hope to survive this competition". The predecessor Kay Kratky goes after three years with "very satisfactory numbers" on board. The booking figures for the coming months are promising. The revision of the road network will have a positive effect.

"We have significantly increased capacity utilization," said Wolfgang Jani, chief financial officer of AUA, in the first half of the year. In 2018, however, earnings will be lower than in the previous year. Revenues rose four per cent in the first half, while costs rose nearly five per cent. This is partly due to higher fuel costs. Personnel costs also soared that in 2018, 400 new employees were recruited. In addition, many flights had to be canceled due to inclement weather, airspace restrictions and business meetings.

The operating result (EBIT) amounted to one million euros in the first half, compared to eight million the previous year. Adjusted operating profit (Adjusted EBIT without valuation gains on the sale of aircraft) is negative at three million euros, after a more than three million euros over the same period of the year. ;last year.

The number of pbadengers increases by ten percent in the first half to 6.4 million as well. Number of employees: 7,118 employees – looking for pilots and cabin crew

Lufthansa gliding

The Lufthansa group has more than made up for the costly integration of Air Berlin parts and the Higher fuel costs in the second quarter, For the year as a whole, CEO Carsten Spohr expects operating profit to only slightly reach the three billion euros in the record year of 2017.

In the first half, Lufthansa achieved a turnover of 16.9 billion euros. Adjusted to account for accounting changes, this corresponds to an increase of about five percent. Net profit rose 0.7% to 677 million euros

The business performed well, especially for the clbadic airlines Lufthansa and Swiss, which significantly increased their profit d & # 39; operation. The Austrian subsidiary AAU has slightly moved back into the disaster area at the beginning of the year. The Lufthansa cargo business is doing well again: the Lufthansa Cargo subsidiary has increased its operating profit by 60% to 125 million euros in the first half of the year

Overall, the Lufthansa group lost nearly three billion euros a good third in the first six months. However, the most important quarter has just begun. The airlines inject the majority of their profits in high season in summer

Graphic: Lufthansa Group and AAU in the first quarter

PDF file (2.18 MBytes.)

Show comments »