SAA has released its results for the 2022/23 financial year, revealing the figures behind the airline’s first positive bottom line since 2012.
The release of the audited financial reports was delayed in August due to a disagreement with the Auditor General on the treatment of revenue from expired air tickets, as reported by Travel News. The results were recently presented at the airline’s annual general meeting.
The 2022/2023 financial year is SAA’s first fiscal period of commercial operations since SAA exited business rescue in September 2021.
For the year ended March 2023, SAA recorded a positive EBIDTA of R277m and a nett profit of R252m compared with a negative EBIDTA of R1bn for the year ended March 2022. Group revenue increased by 183% to R5,7bn in 2023 from R2bn in 2022.
In this financial year, SAA operated between six and eight aircraft, serving only nine destinations.
The airline said the positive results were particularly significant in light of a challenging global aviation environment. SAA said the pressures of post-COVID recovery, high interest rates, the war in Ukraine and high oil, and therefore jet fuel, prices.
“These pleasing results of the 2022/23 financial year are emblematic of the hard and careful work that went into the relaunching of SAA as a reliable airline and globally admired brand. This has put SAA on a path to financial sustainability without reliance on the fiscus,” said John Lamola, SAA’s Interim CEO.
Looking to the future, Lamola said the airline was entering a new phase of growth and planned to renew its fleet, open more intercontinental routes and pursue environmental sustainability goals.