Hello!
Does anybody have numbers about the best profitable airlines in the world?
Rough guess: Air France - KLM, Singapore, Cathay, Emirates(?), Korean(?)...
Any ranking available?
Thanks!
Best profitable airlines
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sn-remember
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Out of my head ; I would pick out among the legacy carriers :
In Europe : BA, AF/KL, LH/LX
In ME : EK, EY
In FE: SQ, CX, maybe as you mentioned KE (Asiana ?)
As everybody knows there are fortunately lots of smaller airlines performing nicely.
And big profits are generally registered with most LCCs !
And also with some premium service dedicated carriers.
An interesting indicator would be the profit rate (independant from the size of the fleet).
For instance global profits per offered seats in the fleet.
However the concept of "global profits" is not always accurate because some carriers have just invested in fleet renewal and others not yet ...
Therefore the intrinsic value of the company's assets would certainly be a 2nd interesting indicator.
You could complement your enquiry with the list of the poorest performers also
In Europe : BA, AF/KL, LH/LX
In ME : EK, EY
In FE: SQ, CX, maybe as you mentioned KE (Asiana ?)
As everybody knows there are fortunately lots of smaller airlines performing nicely.
And big profits are generally registered with most LCCs !
And also with some premium service dedicated carriers.
An interesting indicator would be the profit rate (independant from the size of the fleet).
For instance global profits per offered seats in the fleet.
However the concept of "global profits" is not always accurate because some carriers have just invested in fleet renewal and others not yet ...
Therefore the intrinsic value of the company's assets would certainly be a 2nd interesting indicator.
You could complement your enquiry with the list of the poorest performers also
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FlightMate
- Posts: 390
- Joined: 15 Mar 2007, 14:39
A little outdated, but I pulled this from an old A.net post. It gives a good view on the situation. It will have changed over the last few years...
2004 Data - From Airline Business Magazine (August 2005 edition):
Top Group Operating Profits:
1) FedEx
2) Lufthansa Group
3) British Airways
4) Singapore Airlines Group
5) Qantas
6) Emirates
7) ANA
8) Cathay Pacific
9) Air France / KLM Group
10) Southwest Airlines
Top Operation Margins:
1) Gol Transportes Aereos
2) Ryanair
3) Republic Airways Holdings
4) Middle East Airlines
5) Emirates
6) ASTAR Air Cargo
7) Kenya Airways
8) ExpressJet
9) Cathay Pacific
10) Air China Limited
Top Highest Group net Profits:
1) Singapore Airlines
2) Emirates
3) Cathay Pacific
4) Lufthansa
5) British Airways
6) Qantas
7) Air France - KLM Group
8) Korean Air
9) Ryanair
10) Southwest Airlines
2004 Data - From Airline Business Magazine (August 2005 edition):
Top Group Operating Profits:
1) FedEx
2) Lufthansa Group
3) British Airways
4) Singapore Airlines Group
5) Qantas
6) Emirates
7) ANA
8) Cathay Pacific
9) Air France / KLM Group
10) Southwest Airlines
Top Operation Margins:
1) Gol Transportes Aereos
2) Ryanair
3) Republic Airways Holdings
4) Middle East Airlines
5) Emirates
6) ASTAR Air Cargo
7) Kenya Airways
8) ExpressJet
9) Cathay Pacific
10) Air China Limited
Top Highest Group net Profits:
1) Singapore Airlines
2) Emirates
3) Cathay Pacific
4) Lufthansa
5) British Airways
6) Qantas
7) Air France - KLM Group
8) Korean Air
9) Ryanair
10) Southwest Airlines
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FlightMate
- Posts: 390
- Joined: 15 Mar 2007, 14:39
QF has returned a profit fairly consistently over the last decade with just one or two small losses.
However some of the profits have been fairly modest and the share price was stagnant for a long time before the recent failed takeover. But I would rate them, along with Singapore and Cathay, as the safest investments in the airline industry.
However if I was an Investment adviser I really wouldn't recommend any aviation shares. As someone remarked "if investors new what a disaster aviation shares would be they would have shot the Wright Brothers".
Of the other airlines the American Legacy carriers are all financial basket cases (and certainly should be avoided), as are most of the South American Carriers (LAN is a noticeable exception). BA did very poorly before Rod Eddington took over and Air NZ has been a shambles for decades. I still wouldn't trust either.
Forget investing in African airlines (although there will be occasional sucesses there) and avoid all the Middle Eastern Glam airlines with countless megabucks to spend on new planes - 1 day even their pockets will probably run dry>
If I had to punt on one it would be China Eastern - great location to be based and unlimited potential to expand.
However some of the profits have been fairly modest and the share price was stagnant for a long time before the recent failed takeover. But I would rate them, along with Singapore and Cathay, as the safest investments in the airline industry.
However if I was an Investment adviser I really wouldn't recommend any aviation shares. As someone remarked "if investors new what a disaster aviation shares would be they would have shot the Wright Brothers".
Of the other airlines the American Legacy carriers are all financial basket cases (and certainly should be avoided), as are most of the South American Carriers (LAN is a noticeable exception). BA did very poorly before Rod Eddington took over and Air NZ has been a shambles for decades. I still wouldn't trust either.
Forget investing in African airlines (although there will be occasional sucesses there) and avoid all the Middle Eastern Glam airlines with countless megabucks to spend on new planes - 1 day even their pockets will probably run dry>
If I had to punt on one it would be China Eastern - great location to be based and unlimited potential to expand.