Amadeus Profit Takes Off In First Quarter As Air Travel Recovers

By Dave Simpson
Amadeus Profit Takes Off In First Quarter As Air Travel Recovers

Spanish travel booking group Amadeus AMA.MC has reported an adjusted first-quarter net profit of €95 million compared with a loss in the same period a year ago as pandemic-related travel restrictions were mostly lifted.

Details

Even though the spread of the COVID-19's Omicron variant led to a new round of restrictions in late 2021 and early 2022, Amadeus said travel recovered quickly in February and March.

The company operates the world's largest travel booking system and offers check-in services and other IT solutions for airports and airlines.

Amadeus said it processed almost 92 million bookings during the quarter, a little more than half the pre-pandemic levels. Overall revenues during the quarter of €917 million were approximately 65% of the revenues registered in the first quarter of 2019.

Net profit, including non-recurring effects, was €81 million in the quarter, up from a net loss of €95 million, the company said.

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The company's profit was slightly higher than the €79 million expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Amadeus, which accumulated hefty losses in 2020 and 2021 as the tourism industry was hit by travel restrictions enforced around the world, is finally seeing a return to normality as most countries have lifted travel curbs or are phasing them out.

Omicron Impact

The company first returned to profit in the third quarter of last year, but dipped again into the red in the fourth quarter as a result of Omicron restrictions.

News by Reuters, edited by Hospitality Ireland. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.