Greek carrier Aegean Airlines profitable as sales jump in Q2

Aegean Airlines, Greece's largest carrier, returned to profit in the second quarter after losses in the same period a year earlier with sales rebounding strongly as passenger traffic recovered from pandemic travel restrictions. Aegean, a member of the Star Alliance airlines group, reported a net profit of E10.8m in the April-to-June period compared with a loss of 33.9m in Q2 2021. Sales jumped 201% to E327.3m. CE Dimitris Gerogiannis said the strong desire to travel after two years of COVID-19-related restrictions contributed to a robust rebound in passenger traffic. "Despite the cost of fuel we returned to profitability from the second quarter, before the always-stronger third quarter. This continued in the summer months as we boosted load factors to 84% in July to August," Gerogiannis said. Aegean's performance in the summer months boosts the expected earnings for the year as a whole, he said. The airline flew 3.3m passengers in Q2, with its load factor - a key industry measure of filled seats - improving to 79.2% from 55.8% in the same period last year. Aegean's cash reserves at the end of June stood at E602.1m.<br/>