Achi news desk-
The Glasgow-based company, which is the UK’s largest regional leaflet, grew its turnover by 53% to March 2023 to reach a new record of £247.3m from £161.7m the previous year.
It posted a pre-tax profit of £10.9m, against £4.98m a year earlier, when the business was still recovering from the pandemic. It has seen a change at the top, with former Wizz Air and easyJet executive Luke Farajallah appointed chief executive of Loganair following the sudden departure of Jonathan Hinkles.
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Loganair said: “The rapid return of air travel demand led to an unprecedented and highly publicized situation at many UK airports during the first part of the year as facilities and staffing levels struggled to keep up with rising demand that.
“Loganair was not immune to these challenges, and although we have been able to comprehensively address the staffing issues, the industry as a whole continues to face significant challenges with global supply chain shortages affecting on availability and overhaul times for aircraft, spare parts and key components such as engines and landing gear.”
The company added: “It appears that these issues will continue for the foreseeable future. In the case of the UK, the challenges have been compounded by import border certification requirements and a new Civil Aviation Authority following Brexit and the UK’s consequent exit from the EASA common European aviation system.
“This has added unwanted cost, time and complexity to our engineering operations and continues to have a detrimental effect on the service we provide to our customers today.”
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He also said: “The financial year to March 31, 2023 represented a ‘near return to normal’ for the airline industry following the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, although the year was certainly not without challenges for reasons others – mostly related. to the result of the pandemic.
“Loganair’s turnover was above pre-pandemic levels, increasing by 53% to reach a new record of £247.3m (2022: £161.7m). At a time when many other airlines continued to record losses, Loganair’s highly diversified business model enabled us to report a pre-tax profit of £11m, and we completed the full repayment of our Covid funding facilities -19 some nine months earlier than expected.
“This positive trading has enabled the start of repairing the company’s balance sheet following two very challenging years of trading.”
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Mr Farajallah said: “It is encouraging to see that we have achieved further strong growth in our financial accounts up to March 2023, ensuring that we can continue to operate lifesaving services sustainably and throughout the year.
“Although the result to the end of March 2023 looks encouraging, it will not be lost on anyone that the current financial year, which will end at the end of this month, has been one of fleet transformation, operational challenge and inflationary pressures – the latter affecting businesses across Scotland and the UK. We are fully committed to building resilience and improving our performance for our customers, which means our future results will reflect the significant investment being made.”
