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UAE budget carrier Air Arabia swung back to profit in 2021 after revenues surged more than 70 percent amid a gradual recovery in the air travel industry.
Net profit for the year reached 720 million dirhams ($196 million), compared to a loss of 192.18 million dirhams in the previous 12 months, the airline said in a filing to the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Tuesday. For the fourth quarter in 2021, net profit stood at 467 million dirhams, up from 20 million dirhams in the same period a year earlier.
The company, which also attributed the positive results to its “tight cost scrutiny”, is optimistic about returning to pre-pandemic levels, but said it remains cautious, citing that the “pandemic is not over yet.”
“The year 2021 witnessed a gradual recovery after the global impact of COVID-19 in all sectors including the aviation sector,” Air Arabia’s board of directors said in its accompanying report.
“The tight cost scrutiny and strong operational efficiency has led to a very positive full year result… Governments and airports have got a better hold of the pandemic, and the introduced measures have had fewer negative impacts compared to 2020.”
The carrier logged more than 6.7 million passengers in 2021 at its five hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt, registering an increase of 54 percent compared to 4.3 million passengers in the previous year.
The airline’s revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 reached more than 3.17 billion dirhams, compared to 1.8 billion dirhams in 2020. Gross profit also jumped from 50.7 million dirhams in 2020 to 882.8 million dirhams in 2021.
Total comprehensive income amounted to 1.56 billion dirhams, compared to a loss of 629.9 million dirhams in the previous year.
The board of directors proposed a dividend distribution of 8.5 percent of the company’s share capital, which is equivalent to 8.5 fils per share.
(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
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