National carrier TUNISAIR has announced that it carried 2,474,179 passengers in 2023, an increase of 14% compared to 2022.
As a result of the improvement in activity, the company’s revenues grew 16.4% to TND 1,580 million, compared with TND 1,357 million in 2022. This corresponds to an average revenue per passenger (scheduled flights) of around 496 dinars, compared to 489 dinars at the end of December 2022.
In terms of costs, the improvement in the airline’s activity has been accompanied by an increase in aircraft rental costs of nearly 130 million dinars, due to the addition of 05 aircraft to the fleet on long-term leases, as well as several one-off charters during the high season.
In addition, expenditure on airport charges went up by 11.5% to TND 369 million dinars and commercial assistance by 8% to TND 94 million.
Fuel costs decreased slightly to TND 428.5 dinars as a result of dropping oil prices, while personnel costs increased by 12% to 212.2 million dinars at the end of December.
The increase in personnel costs, despite a 3% decrease in the number of employees, was mainly due to the payment of arrears for some of the promotions frozen since 2020 as a result of the COVID crisis.
Financial expenses grew to TND 37.8 million, compared to TND 26.4 million at December 30, 2022, due to the debt restructuring (settlement of outstanding payments) and the effect of higher interest rates.
Financial leasing fees amounted to TND 83.4 million, compared to TND 96.4 million in 2022.
At the end of last year, the company’s bank debt decreased by 11% to TND 766.4 million, following the repayment of loans and deferrals during the COVID period and the limited use of external financing during the period.
