Vueling turned a 68.1m. euros operating profit during the third quarter of the year, with a 26.3% operating margin - a 10.2-point increase when compared to the same period one year earlier (operating profit of 24.7m. euros, and a 16.1% margin). In the 9 months to September 30th, Vueling made a 71.9m. euros operating profit - a 16.3% margin, with a 21.6-point increase on a year earlier.

Total revenue reached 259.2m. euros during the quarter, and increased by 68.6% when compared to the same period on a year earlier. On a unit basis, revenue per ASK decrease by just 1.3%, mainly as a consequence of a lift in fuel surcharges. Gross revenue for the nine months to September was of 441m. euros.

Vueling operated 23,630 flights during the quarter, 79.7% more than in the same period on a year earlier. Not only there were more flights, but these were also better filled: its quarterly seat load-factor increased by 2.1 points, to 80%. Travel-agent sales decisively contributed to the increase in passenger numbers and gross revenue, and accounted for one-third of Vueling’s scheduled revenue, as a consequence of Vueling’s own GDS constant rollout and of code-share agreements with Iberia.

The overall unit cost base decreased by 13.2%% to 5.14 Euro cents per ASK, as a consequence of dropping oil prices and cautious fuel hedging. During the quarter, Vueling’s gross fuel bill was 15.0% lower in comparison to the same period last year, in spite of the company operating a much larger fleet -of 35 aircraft vs 20 in Q3 08. As a consequence of the merger with Clickair, the new Vueling became Spain’s fourth largest carrier, after Ryanair, Iberia, and easyJet and, at any rate, the leading carrier in 4 of its 7 bases: Barcelona (with a 24% of market share), Seville (34%), Bilbao (17%) and Ibiza (14%).

Vueling’s cash position, as of September 30th, was of €149.1m, which included proceeds from a 12.5m. euros credit line.

Outlook for Q4 09 and 2010
- No major changes in demand situation are foreseen for Q4 09.
- Both cost and revenue synergies allocated for the first year of the merger
should be almost 100% captured in Q4 09, allowing for significant improvement in margins with regards to Q4 08, in spite of recent increases in fuel prices.
- Targets for 2010 will be…
(a) to consolidate the position in the current operating bases
(b) to reduce ex-fuel cost base to below 4.0 Euro cents for the year
- Merger synergies related to revenues (for an amount of over 32m. euros) and costs (for over 20m. euros) are forecasted to fully impact 2010 results. Their joint impact on 2009 full-year accounts will be around 38% of the total amount of expected synergies.
Thus, a remaining 62% of the overall synergies will additionally impact in 2010, with regards to 2009.
- Amid current circumstances, Vueling expects to present, in 2010, even better results than in 2009.