Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, has reported a net loss for the first quarter to 28 February that was largely in line with that in the same period a year earlier.

Group net loss amounted to $1.89 billion compared to $1.97 billion, while operating loss of $1.49 billion was also broadly in line with the $1.52 billion the company had reported a year earlier. Revenues, however, rose strongly, to $1.62 billion from a mere $23 million.

The company experienced an impact on bookings for its near-term sailings due to the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus, including higher cancellations resulting from an increase in pre-travel positive test results, challenges in the availability of timely pre-travel tests and the disruption the virus caused on society overall during this time. “Therefore, occupancy in the first quarter of 2022 was 54%, a 20% increase in guests carried over the prior quarter,” the company said in a statement.

Available lower berth days for the first quarter of 2022 were 13 million, which represents 60% of total fleet capacity, increasing from 47% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Carnival Corporation & plc President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Climate Officer Arnold Donald noted: "Despite the impact of Omicron, guests carried grew by nearly 20% in the first quarter compared to the prior quarter, while simultaneously increasing revenue per passenger cruise day and driving an improvement in adjusted EBITDA. We expect monthly adjusted EBITDA to turn positive by the beginning of our summer season as we build occupancy and return more ships to service."

"We believe we have positioned the company well to withstand volatility on our path to profitability and have been working hard to resume operations as a stronger and more sustainable operating company, to maximize cash generation and to deliver double digit returns on invested capital over time,” he said.