TAP posts record €1.6Bn loss

Portugal’s state-owned airline TAP has posted a record €1.599,1Bn loss for 2021.

The loss which exceeded the €1.230Bn in 2020 was nevertheless below the €1.750Bn factored in for the airline’s restructuring plan.
The record loss was posted despite an increase in passenger numbers and was down to non-recurrent costs of €1.024Bn in 2020 as a result of the closure of the airline’s maintenance and engineering company in Brazil in Q4.
TAP, which is headed by Christine Ourmières-Widener carried 5.83 million passengers last year, up 25% on 2020.
The airline’s passenger revenue grew 25.8% to €1Bn which the airline argues is above the overall passenger revenue growth forecast by the industry of 20.1% (IATA).
Cargo and mail sales were particularly buoyant (+88%) at €236 million while maintenance sales were down by 20.1% to €54.2 million. Operating income improved by 31% in 2021 to €1.3Bn.
TAP’s operating expenses increased 42% to €2.8Bn mainly down to the closure of M&E Brazil (€1Bn) and restructuring costs. Without this extraordinary impact, recurring operating expenses were €1,8 million in 2021, down 2.7% on 2020.
Other key figures were: staff costs (-46.3 or 11%) as 1,480 employees left in 2021 and salary cuts began in March 2021.
EBITDA (-€999 million) but excluding the closure of TAP M&E, the year would have ended at €11.7 million compared to-€380 million in 2020.