Summary
- Aeroitalia celebrated its profitable second yr with impressive revenue and profit growth in comparison with 2022.
- The Italian aviation market saw growth in passenger numbers, with legacy carriers outperforming low-cost airlines when it comes to growth in 2023.
- Low-cost carriers like easyJet and Wizz Air haved reduced their Italian domestic flights, with the latter complety exiting the domestic market in 2024.
Aeroitalia, which launched its operations a yr and a half ago, has managed to complete its second operational yr with a positive profit before taxes, which, in accordance with the airline, was 33 times higher than in 2022. The carrier began operations in July 2022.
A formidable yr for Aeroitalia
In accordance with the carrier’s temporary statement, it earned €131 million ($141.2 million) of revenue, ending 2023 with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of €9.7 million ($10.4 million). That is 415% and 1160% greater than a yr prior, respectively.
Photo: InsectWorld | Shutterstock
In consequence, its profit before taxes was around €6.9 million ($7.4 million), 3,284% greater than in 2022, with the carrier confirming it was 33 times larger than a yr ago. Nevertheless, Aeroitalia’s release didn’t detail its operating costs, the character of the revenue, or the split between regular passenger operations and charter flights and other financial metrics, resembling money available.
![Aeroitalia Boeing 737-800 on approach at BER](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/aeroitalia-boeing-737-800-on-approach-at-ber.jpeg)
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Growing Italian market
While the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile, ENAC) is yet to publish detailed traffic results for 2023, which incorporates a breakdown of what number of passengers each airline has carried domestically and internationally, the authority has presented year-to-date (YTD) data for December 2023.
Photo: Wirestock Creators | Shutterstock
ENAC’s statistics showed that, in total, Italian airports welcomed 197.1 million passengers in 2023, 20% greater than in 2022, with the market growing beyond 2019 levels by 2%. Domestically, there have been 68.6 million passengers, up by 6% in comparison with a yr prior.
Nevertheless, legacy airlines substantially grew their traffic by 55% in comparison with low-cost carriers, whose Italian passenger numbers only increased by 2% in 2023. Still, legacy carriers trail no-frills airlines in total passenger numbers in 2023: 86.8 million versus 110.2 million, respectively.
![ITA Airbus A330neo](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/shutterstock_2347694479.jpg)
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Retreating low-cost carriers
Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz Air, three airlines that carried essentially the most passengers per ENAC in 2022, have significantly reduced their Italian domestic flying programs in 2023, with the one exception being Ryanair. Data from the aviation analytics company Cirium showed that Ryanair’s domestic Italian flights, seats, and available seat kilometers (ASK) had only grown by 0.7%, 0.5%, and 0.4%, respectively, in 2023.
Meanwhile, easyJet’s flights, seats, and ASKs went down by 13.5%, 15.3%, and 16.2%, respectively, while Wizz Air has slashed its schedule significantly, reducing flights (-82.3%), seats (-81.4%), and ASKs (-79.7%). In 2024, Wizz Air has no scheduled domestic Italian flights, while easyJet has continued cutting flights throughout the country. Alternatively, Ryanair will significantly increase its domestic flying in Italy in 2024, adding 6,917 flights, 1.2 million seats, and 736 million ASKs in the course of the yr in comparison with 2023.
Photo: ITA Airways
While Cirium has no data on Aeroitalia’s operations, ITA Airways, the leading Italian airline, has planned similar growth throughout the country to Ryanair, with 8.2% more flights, 11% more seats, and 9.7% ASKs in 2024. Nevertheless, the airline, whose merger with Lufthansa Group hangs within the balance because of the European Commission’s (EC) recent preliminary review, will significantly trail behind Ryanair regarding the 2 airline’s domestic schedules.
![Lufthansa Airbus A320 in Kyiv shutterstock_2435766339](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/lufthansa-airbus-a320-in-kyiv-shutterstock_2435766339.jpeg)
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