Cyprus Airways has issued another profit warning, some five months after it announced a financial survival plan.
The carrier told the Cyprus Stock Exchange that losses for the first half of 2011 "will be slightly increased compared with that of the corresponding period of 2010". It attributed the losses "mainly to the ongoing economic crisis and further significant increases in fuel prices".
In the first half of 2010 the carrier recorded a loss of €25 million ($36.3 million).
In March 2011 the airline scraped a €215,000 annual profit, thanks to a €20 million package from the Cyprus government as compensation for an ongoing ban on flights through Turkish airspace and the sale of one of its Airbus A320s.
It also announced in January it was shedding 140 jobs and seeking to sub-lease one of its two Airbus A330s.
Cyprus Airways chief executive Giorgos Mavrocostas was quoted in the local media at the time as saying the airline did not have a future if a restructuring, including the redundancies, did not go ahead.
In its latest profit warning the airline notes that its 2011 first-half results "include non-recurring revenue benefit from the exchange of slots at London Heathrow Airport between the company and Virgin Atlantic Airways and profit from the sale of one A320-200 aircraft and an aircraft engine". The figures also include non-recurring costs as a result of the staff redundancy scheme.
Cyprus Airways issued two profit warnings in 2010.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
