Uzbek airline industry reports increase in revenue

Uzbekistan Airways and Uzbekistan Airports revealed positive financial results over the first nine months this year. Surging demand for air travel in the country is the main driver of this increase in revenue, according to open-source data.

Uzbekistan Airways reported a net profit of $45.7 million within the reporting period, thanks to virtually twofold growth in earnings to $773.2 million. For comparison, the company reported $2.9 million in losses over the same period last year. Interestingly, the prime cost accounts for 75% of earnings for both years.

As a result of this revenue, the airline cut its uncovered losses for 2020, when the pandemic hit the industry, from $61 million to $15.3 million.

However, the volume of assets on the company’s books decreased as well (-4%) due to asset depreciation (aircraft, equipment and property) and other factors.

Uzbekistan Airports, the single operator of the country’s international airports reported earnings of $79.3 million so far this year. Given that the company earned less than $89,000 last year, this is quite an impressive result. Thanks to this growth in earnings, the company’s net profits reached $28.3 million ($9,160 last year)

According to the State Committee on Statistics, the airline industry is steadily growing. Now, the industry accounts for 14% of the entire transportation services market in Uzbekistan. In 2021, the same rate was 9% and 11% in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.