The International Airlines Group (IAG), the holding company of Aer Lingus and British Airways, has reported a profit of 1.26 billion euros, or $1.4 billion for the first half, after it took a loss of $490 million in the same period last year.

Luis Gallego, CEO of IAG, is optimistic about the business performance this year, saying travel demand has been growing strongly.

Meanwhile, Qatar Airways has reported a net profit of $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2022/2023 and a revenue increase of 45 percent to $21 billion.

Reuters cited several global airlines as predicting that profits of the aviation sector in 2023 will increase by twofold to $9.8 billion compared with the previous $4.7 billion thanks to travel demand and drop in oil prices.

IATA estimated the total revenue of the industry will reach $803 billion, up 9.7 percent, which is near the pre-pandemic figure of $838 billion in 2019.

Meanwhile, domestic airlines are still facing problems.

Vietnam Airlines on July 31 reported a 12.3 percent growth rate in revenue from sales and service in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, reaching VND20.696 trillion. 

This was the seventh consecutive quarter the national flag air carrier saw growth compared with the same periods last year.

After deducting the cost prices, the carrier reported a gross profit of VND929 billion in the second quarter, for the second consecutive time. In the first six months, it had revenue of VND44 trillion, up 47 percent, and gross profit reached VND2.9 trillion.

Nevertheless, because of the seasonality, financial risks and input costs (fuel, exchange rate, interest rate), the air carrier still has not made a profit after tax, but incurred a post-tax loss of VND1.331 trillion in the first half of the year.

Vietjet Air reported a post-tax loss of VND2.171 trillion for 2022, while it made a profit of VND122 billion in 2021. The situation got better in the second quarter 2023. Its revenue and profit from air transportation were VND12.522 trillion and VND72 billion, respectively, up 10 and 101 percent. Meanwhile, the consolidated revenue and post-tax profits reached VND16.872 trillion and VND214 billion, up 46 and 18 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, Bamboo Airways has been facing big difficulties since 2022 with a net loss of VND17.6 trillion in 2022 and a minus stockholder equity of VND835 billion.

Manh Ha