Strong wet lease business lifts Alliance’s revenues

Growth in wet-lease operations boosted Australian carrier Alliance Aviation’s revenue and profits in the 2024 financial year.

For the year ended 30 June, Alliance’s wet lease hours climbed 62% to 73,100h, as its fleet of Embraer E190s rose to 35 aircraft from 31, according to the carrier’s results statement.

Overall, wet leases contributed 41% of overall revenues, up from 32% a year earlier, as the share of contract revenues – derived mainly from FIFO (fly-in/fly-out) services for Australia’s resources sector – declined to 48% from 58% previously.

The carrier’s wet lease revenue comes from contracts with major carriers, namely Qantas. During the year the Australian flag carrier wet leased 26 E190s from Alliance.

This helped wet lease revenue rocket 63% to A$266 million ($181 million), as contract revenue rose a more sedate 4% to A$310 million.

Strength in wet leases helped pre-tax profits jump 65% to $A86.3 million as revenues grew 25% to A$637 million.

“This is Alliance’s best year both operationally and financially,” says chief executive Scott McMillan.

“FY24 is the first full year that we have seen the benefits of the significant fleet expansion programme that commenced in June 2020. Flying over 100,000 hours in the year is a testament to the hard work of all our staff and they should be very proud of this achievement.”

Looking forward, Alliance expects to operate 80 aircraft at the end of its 2025 financial year, up from 72 as of 30 June. The growth will come from the addition of seven E190s and one Fokker F100. By 30 June 2026 Alliance expects to operate 90 aircraft, with the addition of 10 more E190s.