Continued ban to operate Boeing 737-Max jet airliners has led to deeper losses for the second quarter to 31 March at TUI AG, the German travel group, despite strong performance of its cruise operations.
Net loss widened to €175.1 million from €142.3 million year on, while EBITDA was negative by €240.1 million in the latest quarter, much weaker than the €146.5 million negative figure for the same period last year. Revenues also decreased, to €3.10 billion, from €3.15 billion.
The group’s cruise operations that comprise of 50% stake in TUI Cruises in Germany and the fully owned luxury and expedition unit Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten in Germany and Marella Cruises in the UK, increased their underlying EBTIDA to €59.4 million from €56.0 million.
TUI AG said it continues to see good demand for cruises. “Load factor and yield performance remain in line with our expectations,” it pointed out, adding that investments in the sector should deliver good performance for the present financial year as a whole.
However, overcapacity in holidays in Spain plus the continued grounding of the Boeing 737-Max aircraft have resulted in a revision of guidance for the full year and the board now says EBITDA should decrease by 26% in the present financial year from €1.18 billion in the previous year. Its previous guidance, issued on 29 March, was a 17% fall in the figure. TUI AG as 150 aircraft, of which 15 are Boeing 737-Max jets.