- EBIT USD 83 million and net profit USD 69 million
- Increased operational stability resulted in a 2% decrease in unit cost
- Outstanding on-time performance, up by 5 percentage points, whilst driving down unit cost
- Transformation journey underway, driving further cost-efficiency and revenue-generation
- Unit revenue decreased due to softer demand in the market to Iceland and negative yield development in the transatlantic market
- Load factor 86%, up by 1.4 percentage points compared to last year
- Number of passengers 1.7 million up by 9%, including 550 thousand passengers to Iceland
- Leasing operations delivering strong results, achieving EBIT margin of 21%
- Positive turnaround in the Cargo operation of USD 5.7 million
- Strong liquidity position of USD 395.7 million
- Significant milestone reached when introduced as Southwest Airline's first airline partner, in addition to four new strategic partnership agreements signed this year
Bogi Nils Bogason, President & CEO
"With a joint effort of our team, we managed to successfully respond to changes in demand to Iceland by leveraging our flexibility and shifting focus to the transatlantic market, resulting in a strong load factor in the third quarter. This, however, impacted our results due to lower yields on the transatlantic market. The market to Iceland is starting to regain its strength and we expect significant performance improvements in the fourth quarter and next year. We continued to drive strong performance in our operations with record on-time performance and robust execution of maintenance programs, resulting in decreased unit cost despite on-going inflationary pressure. We also saw continued improvement in the performance of our cargo operation and our leasing business delivered strong results in the quarter.
In line with our continued focus on improving our competitiveness to ensure profitable growth and long-term success, we launched a comprehensive transformation journey in the first half of 2024, which has already started to materialize. We are leaving no stone unturned in this important journey and have put a plan in place that will significantly contribute to reaching our long-term 8% EBIT goal. By the end of next year, our objective is that the transformation journey will deliver USD 70 million at an annual run rate, with further impact in the following years. Numerous cost reduction projects are already underway and on the revenue side, where we are building on our strong commercial infrastructure, we are enhancing our revenue generation through diverse streams, such as airline partnerships. This year, we have signed strategic partnership agreements with four airlines - Emirates, TAP, Air Greenland and Atlantic Airways. In addition, we reached a significant milestone when introduced as the first airline partner of Southwest Airlines, one of the largest airlines in the US.
The foundation of our business model and our key competitive advantage is the geographical location of Iceland. Our route network is the heart of our business and provides extensive connectivity between Europe, North America, and beyond through our airline partners. Furthermore, with new longer-range aircraft we will be able to open new and exciting markets, which will be fundamental for the future development of Iceland as a tourist destination and a connecting hub for air travel.
The outlook is promising, and we expect significant improvement in profitability in the fourth quarter as well as the full year of 2025. Building on our proven business model and core strengths, coupled with our focused efforts on driving efficiencies and strengthening our competitiveness, I firmly believe that Icelandair is in a prime position to capture emerging opportunities and create long-term value for shareholders and the Icelandic society."
Investor presentation 23 October 2024
An investor presentation will be webcast in relation to the publication of the Q3 2024 results at 8:30 GMT on Wednesday, 23 October 2024, at http://icelandairgroup.com. Bogi Nils Bogason, President & CEO, and Ivar S. Kristinsson, CFO, will present the Company's results and answer questions. The presentation will take place in English and will be accessible after the meeting on the Company's website and under Corporate News on the Nasdaq Nordic website:
http://www.nasdaqomxnordic.com/news/companynews
Contact information
Investors: Kristofer Hlynsson, Investor Relations Manager. E-mail:?kristoferh@icelandair.is
Media: Asdis Petursdottir, Director Communications. E-mail:?asdis@icelandair.is
