The travel company, shaken by the corona pandemic, will have to redefine it again in the first fiscal quarter of 2020/21.
However, the operating loss turned out to be less than the experts feared. As CEO Fritz Joussen announced in the morning, the vacation company lost an average of around 300 million euros per month between October and December. Previously, between 400 and 450 million euros had been announced. "With strict cost discipline and the reorientation of the group, which was driven forward at full speed, we succeeded in reducing the loss in the past quarter," said Joussen. Thanks to the vaccination campaigns that have now started and more Covid 19 rapid tests, the group is confident that an end to the stalemate in tourism is possible. However, TUI AG does not yet trust itself to make a forecast for the current year.
In the three months to the end of December, revenues collapsed by 88 percent to 468,1 million euros due to global travel restrictions. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were minus 698,6 million euros, after minus 146,7 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The consolidated loss widened to 813,1 million from 105,4 million euros. A loss of 802,9 million euros can be attributed to the shareholders, reports the Reuters. The management floor is optimistic about the future. Because the summer season can, according to the information, benefit from the very rapid vaccination process in the important TUI market of Great Britain. For the summer of 2021, TUI has so far recorded a total of 2,8 million bookings, which corresponds to around 56 percent of the bookings at the same time for the summer of 2019. The capacity for the summer program 2021 still corresponds to around 80 percent of the program from summer 2019. "The British mark has a special meaning for our company ”, continues CEO Fritz Joussen. "We see an impressive pace and ambitious goals with the vaccinations there." In other countries, too, vaccinations are now making headway after a cautious start.