UTair’s losses decrease by half

Russia's fourth largest carrier posted the net loss of $28.515 million at the end of the first half year 2016, a 46% YOY improvement (Photo by UTair)

In the first half of this year, Russia’s fourth largest passenger airline, UTair has decreased its net loss by half as compared to the same period in 2015. From January through June, this figured to be 46% less than last year – 1.897 billion rubles ($28.515 million) in 2016, against 3.505 billion ($52.686 million) in 2015, says the airline’s report filed according to Russian accounting practices.

Additionally, the carrier managed to increase its revenue by 7.8%, from 21.982 billion rubles to 23.703 billion rubles ($330.411 billion to $356.330 billion). However, the gross loss experienced by the carrier increased 36% in the first half of this year, from 834.3 million in 2015 to 1.135 billion rubles ($12.543 million to $17.063 million).

UTair’s shorter-term commitments rose 0.04%, from 84.771 billion rubles at the end of last year, to 84.803 billion rubles. The volume of long-term liabilities increased 19%, totaling 24.960 billion rubles, against last year’s 21.025 billion rubles.

At the end of 2015, UTair was able to reduce its net loss by 17.4% (including the helicopter segment) in the wake of financial difficulties, totaling 18.426 billion rubles. Despite this, revenues fell 30.0%, to 49.665 billion rubles.

UTair occupies fourth place among Russian airlines in terms of passenger traffic. In January-June 2016, it served 2.824 million passengers, a 14% increase over the 2.478 million it served in the previous year, despite the general trend of stagnation in the Russian air transport market. The carrier’s operating performance increased despite a significant reduction in capacity.