Currency issues hit Air Astana profits
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Air Astana has experienced a decline in its full-year profits, as Kazakhstan’s currency issues impacted the carrier.
The national carrier generated net profit of US$51.4 million in 2013, 15.7% lower than the previous year, despite a 10.5% jump in revenues, to US$967m. And Air Astana said it would have generated higher profits had it not been for the impact of a one-off revenue adjustment in 2012 and currency exchange loss in 2013.
The Kazakh airline’s president, Peter Foster, said Air Astana continued with its programme of expansion and product enhancements last year.
“The airline made significant fleet and product upgrades in 2013, in addition to introducing new regional and long-haul routes. These are investments for the long-term, and enable us to continue to strengthen our position as the leader in this region’s aviation markets,” said Foster.
He added however, that the devaluation of the Kazakh tengue would continue to have a negative effect on Air Astana’s 2014 results.
“Approximately two thirds of our revenue is earned in tengue whereas our costs are largely in US dollars, so there will be a hit both to the balance sheet and to the market in the short-term. However over the medium-term, we are confident that the airline’s competitive cost base combined with regional economic expansion will enable us to resume strong growth,” Foster added.
At the end of 2013, the airline’s fleet stood at 30 aircraft. It has now retired all smaller Fokker 50 aircraft and continues to take delivery of new Airbus A320s and Embraer E190s.
Air Astana carried a total of 3.7m passengers in 2013 – 13.5% more than in 2012.
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