Aena leaves behind the losses suffered by the impact of the pandemic and the restrictions on air transport. The airport manager earned 901.5 million euros in 2022, compared to losses of 475.4 million a year earlier, the company has communicated to the CNMV. In February of last year, it reported losses of 60 million euros. The difference with the figures provided now is due to the fact that the company has carried out a change in the accounting policy applied to record the impact of the reductions in the minimum guaranteed income of businesses after the legislative change approved by the Congress of Deputies .
“The application of this change retroactively has led to the restatement of the 2021 accounts,” he explained. In total, the airports in its network in Spain transported 243 million passengers last year, representing a recovery of 88.5% of passenger traffic compared to 2019, the last year without the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Given the evolution of these passenger data from Spanish airports in recent months and after analyzing the economic situation, Aena has revised its estimate of passenger traffic upwards for the year 2023 to a range of between 94% and 104%. on the figures for 2019, compared to the initial forecast of between 87 and 97%. .
With all this, Aena will propose to the Ordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting, which will be held on April 20, the distribution of a gross dividend of 4.75 euros per share charged to the results of the financial year 2022. The State, which owns a 51 % of the shares, will receive 363 million euros.
Total consolidated revenue for 2022 stands at 4,237.5 million euros, 69.3% more than in 2021. Aeronautical revenue was 2,418 million euros, 81.5% more than in 2021.
Commercial revenues, supported by growth in sales from commercial activities that place them at 2019 levels (1%), amounted to 1,243.8 million euros, an increase of 37.5%.
The gross operating result (EBITDA) in 2022 was 2,078.9 million euros, 2,185.4% more than in 2021 (91 million). During 2022, there was an increase in net cash generated by operating activities of 564.3%, up to 1,863.2 million euros, compared to 280.5 million euros in 2021.
The consolidated accounting net financial debt(2) of the Aena Group was reduced to 6,242.9 million euros, compared to 7,446.3 million euros at the end of 2021, reducing the net financial debt to EBITDA ratio of the consolidated group to 3 times, compared to 11.55 times as of December 31, 2021.
As of December 31, the Group had cash and credit facilities for an amount of 3,779.3 million euros, to which is added the possibility of making issues through the Euro Commercial Paper (ECP) program of up to 900 million euros , which at the end of the year were fully available.
During the two years of the pandemic, Aena provided the airlines with incentives designed for the situation caused by COVID19. Now, given the recovery in traffic, the company is recovering a commercial incentive similar to the one it offered to airlines before the pandemic.
The incentive will be applied during the summer and winter seasons of 2023, which cover from April 1 to October 31 (summer) and from November 1 to March 31, 2024 (winter).
This scheme encourages new routes to unserved destinations, growth in routes at airports with fewer than 3 million passengers, and growth in routes to Asia.
The incentive consists of the reimbursement of 100% of the passenger’s airport tariff corresponding to the number of passengers of each company that opens routes to destinations not served by the airport or that grow (with respect to the previous equivalent season), on the routes that operate in airports with fewer than 3 million passengers or with destinations in Asia.
The maximum number of passengers to be encouraged by each company has a limit set by the number of passengers that the airline grows at the airport and in the total network.
