Air Seychelles makes $8.4 million profit

Air Seychelles, the national carrier of the Republic of Seychelles, announced a profit of $8.4 million for the year 2022. This was the first year of profit for Air Seychelles since 2016 when it reported a small gain of $425 thousand.

After reporting a loss of $22.7m in 2021 and starting the year 2022 with a negative net asset position of $100.6m, the year 2022 was one of exceptional recovery for Air Seychelles. Prior to the start of 2022, the airline had suffered the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which included the shutting down of its key routes and the shrinking of its revenue streams.

Air Seychelles went into administration in 2021 and successfully exited it in November 2022. They ended the year with a positive net asset position of $19 million. This is an improvement of $104 million from its net asset position of negative $85 million at the start of the administration process. By the end of 2022, the company had achieved an overall profit of $119.6 million and after excluding the debt write-off gains from the debt discounts during the company reorganisation process, made a profit of $8.4 million. This profit enabled Air Seychelles to make repayments on its debt obligations.

This remarkable restructuring success was made possible by an impressive upswing in the company’s operational and ongoing financial performance. Overall revenue had recovered to 93% of 2019 levels for the year and even exceeded 2019 levels in the fourth quarter of 2022. With borders reopened, scheduled operations were re-established to Johannesburg, Tel Aviv, Mauritius and Mumbai, with a seasonal Almaty operation launched in December.