Post by Humberside on Nov 16, 2013 17:19:29 GMT
LOGANAIR has posted bumper profit and turnover after carrying a record number of passengers.
The airline, which has its registered office at Glasgow Airport but operates routes across the country, including many island locations, said there was growth in its scheduled services and charter work.
Turnover grew 20% from £72.6 million to a record of almost £87m in the 12 months to March 31, 2013.
Pre-tax profits came in at £4.4m, also a record and up 24% from the £3.5m for the previous year, while passenger numbers grew from 527,564 to 591,995.
Executive chairman David Harrison said the business had made a promising start to its current financial year with tenders renewed for services such as Glasgow to Barra, Campbeltown and Tiree.
Loganair has also secured an extension to a contract with Royal Mail, which sees its planes transporting postal items to and from the Highlands.
Mr Harrison said: "We are seeing some signs of early growth in the economy. Across the piece, airlines and airports are hopefully an indicator that things are slightly better and we are certainly seeing that in parts of our network.
"It is modest but it is all helpful. We had a good summer in the scheduled business and the rest of our activity has been strong as well."
The financial performance recorded in accounts recently filed at Companies House was boosted by greater charter work particularly from the oil and gas sector.
While scheduled services still make up around 80% of the business, Mr Harrison said other elements are expanding.
He said: "We have seen with the oil and gas activity benefits on the Aberdeen to Sumburgh [on Shetland] route. Some of the charter work might be going from Aberdeen to Sumburgh but the difference is whether people are buying seats on a flight that is already going or getting a dedicated aircraft.
"With the unfortunate things that have happened in the helicopter side of things, operators chose to move more people to Shetland by fixed wing aircraft and then have shorter helicopter journeys to get out to the rigs."
New routes added in the financial year were Glasgow to Leeds and Manchester to Norwich. The latter route is Loganair's first scheduled service operating solely in England.
Mr Harrison said: "It was done by FlyBe with a bigger aircraft, then they felt, in agreement with us, it would be better done in a smaller aircraft.
"We have been very pleased with the way it has worked. FlyBe has built up a hub at Manchester where they can connect onto other flights so the Norwich service is doing well."
While FlyBe has this week announced a second round of job and cost cuts, Mr Harrison admitted the potential impact on Loganair could be in terms of connecting flights to other destinations.
However, he said there had been no information provided yet on what the impact of FlyBe's strategy would be on its route network.
He said: "Our feeling is the flights they do in Scotland are among their better ones so we would hope that whatever changes they make won't impact them.
"In terms of our business, it actually has little impact other than what happens with the connecting flights." Having pulled out of running flights from Dundee, Mr Harrison said the airline had no intention at the moment of going back into the city, suggesting it was very difficult to operate routes profitably from there.
Mr Harrison said the industry had learned to live with high fuel costs and Loganair was not anticipating major hikes in that area.
He said: "As we operate smaller aircraft on shorter routes we are not quite as exposed as larger airlines."
Mr Harrison signalled it may try to add to the number of aircraft it owns over the next few years. While there are no specific acquisition targets in mind he did not rule out making deals. He said: "That position of [financial] strength means when opportunities come up we will be well placed to go for them."
The airline, which has its registered office at Glasgow Airport but operates routes across the country, including many island locations, said there was growth in its scheduled services and charter work.
Turnover grew 20% from £72.6 million to a record of almost £87m in the 12 months to March 31, 2013.
Pre-tax profits came in at £4.4m, also a record and up 24% from the £3.5m for the previous year, while passenger numbers grew from 527,564 to 591,995.
Executive chairman David Harrison said the business had made a promising start to its current financial year with tenders renewed for services such as Glasgow to Barra, Campbeltown and Tiree.
Loganair has also secured an extension to a contract with Royal Mail, which sees its planes transporting postal items to and from the Highlands.
Mr Harrison said: "We are seeing some signs of early growth in the economy. Across the piece, airlines and airports are hopefully an indicator that things are slightly better and we are certainly seeing that in parts of our network.
"It is modest but it is all helpful. We had a good summer in the scheduled business and the rest of our activity has been strong as well."
The financial performance recorded in accounts recently filed at Companies House was boosted by greater charter work particularly from the oil and gas sector.
While scheduled services still make up around 80% of the business, Mr Harrison said other elements are expanding.
He said: "We have seen with the oil and gas activity benefits on the Aberdeen to Sumburgh [on Shetland] route. Some of the charter work might be going from Aberdeen to Sumburgh but the difference is whether people are buying seats on a flight that is already going or getting a dedicated aircraft.
"With the unfortunate things that have happened in the helicopter side of things, operators chose to move more people to Shetland by fixed wing aircraft and then have shorter helicopter journeys to get out to the rigs."
New routes added in the financial year were Glasgow to Leeds and Manchester to Norwich. The latter route is Loganair's first scheduled service operating solely in England.
Mr Harrison said: "It was done by FlyBe with a bigger aircraft, then they felt, in agreement with us, it would be better done in a smaller aircraft.
"We have been very pleased with the way it has worked. FlyBe has built up a hub at Manchester where they can connect onto other flights so the Norwich service is doing well."
While FlyBe has this week announced a second round of job and cost cuts, Mr Harrison admitted the potential impact on Loganair could be in terms of connecting flights to other destinations.
However, he said there had been no information provided yet on what the impact of FlyBe's strategy would be on its route network.
He said: "Our feeling is the flights they do in Scotland are among their better ones so we would hope that whatever changes they make won't impact them.
"In terms of our business, it actually has little impact other than what happens with the connecting flights." Having pulled out of running flights from Dundee, Mr Harrison said the airline had no intention at the moment of going back into the city, suggesting it was very difficult to operate routes profitably from there.
Mr Harrison said the industry had learned to live with high fuel costs and Loganair was not anticipating major hikes in that area.
He said: "As we operate smaller aircraft on shorter routes we are not quite as exposed as larger airlines."
Mr Harrison signalled it may try to add to the number of aircraft it owns over the next few years. While there are no specific acquisition targets in mind he did not rule out making deals. He said: "That position of [financial] strength means when opportunities come up we will be well placed to go for them."
www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/business/company-news/loganair-in-record-profit-and-turnover.22701100?_=5ebe773336be69d552a5eaee8afb0000a2e6930e