Low cost air carrier SkyEurope sees loss go up by 64.3% y/y for past fiscal year.

Low cost air carrier SkyEurope sees loss go up by 64.3% y/y for past fiscal year. The fiscal year of the low cost airline SkyEurope ended on September this year and the company registered an EBIT loss of EUR 55.2mn, up by 64.3% y/y, the company reported. The revenues increased significantly by 40.7% y/y to EUR 158.6mn for the period as the number of the transported passengers increased by 48% y/y to 2.6mn people. A key factor for this growth was that the airline boosted its capacity by 44% as it bought five new Boeing planes and opened 35 new routes. Capacity utilisation, however, dropped by 2.1pps y/y to 75.6%. The plane acquisition together with the establishment of another operating base in Prague negatively influenced the financial result of the company. An additional factor were the high oil prices on the international markets as the fuel costs represented 23% of the total operating costs. Fuel costs were up only by 6.4% y/y due to hedging activities of the airline and boosted total operating costs by 46.2% y/y to EUR 213.8mn for the period.