MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish airport operator AENA said on Wednesday its 2021 loss narrowed by half, as passenger traffic through its terminals recovered some ground from the pandemic-induced slump.
The group cut its net loss to 60 million euros ($68.02 million) from 126.8 million euros a year earlier, while total revenue climbed 6.7% to 2.39 billion euros.
Passenger traffic in Spanish terminals rebounded by nearly 60% last year from a near standstill in 2020 when COVID-19 ground air travel to a near halt, but volumes were still less than half their pre-pandemic levels.
Revenue growth was driven by a 35% increase in aeronautical revenues, which more than offset a 23% drop in commercial revenues.
In September, Spain obliged AENA to reduce the rents it charges to tenants at its airports until passenger traffic fully recovered from the pandemic. It expects the rent cap to cost it some 1.3 billion euros.
The company expects traffic through Spanish terminals to recover to pre-pandemic levels this summer, while seats on flights to and from Spain between March-October will be around 3.6% higher than during the same period in 2019, a company source said last week. [L1N2UT0TZ]
($1 = 0.8821 euros)
(Reporting by Corina Pons; Editing by Nathan Allen and Tomasz Janowski)
