Amadeus swings back to profit as air travel recovers

Spanish travel reservations giant Amadeus said Friday that it booked a profit in the second quarter as the lifting of most Covid-19 global travel restrictions allowed air travel to resume.

“In the second quarter of 2022, we saw an acceleration in the travel industry’s pace of recovery which drove our performance and brought us closer to pre-pandemic levels,” Amadeus said in a statement.

“Our travel agency bookings performance accelerated, supported by industry recovery and market share gains, driving our growth across regions, particularly in North America,” said chief executive Luis Maroto.

Amadeus, the sector world leader, said it booked adjusted profit of 247 million euros ($253 million) from April to June, compared with a loss of 24 million euros in the same period a year earlier.

Sales jumped by 89 percent to 1.18 billion euros in the second quarter, the statement said.

Bookings were up 132 percent at 109.2 million and the number of passengers boarded soared by 140 percent to 396.7 million, Amadeus said.

According to the International Air Transport Association, which represents most of the world’s airlines, the sector is set to lose $9.7 billion this year after losing $137.7 billion in 2020, the year when most pandemic lockdowns were in place.

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