ECONOMIC-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

The first quarter 2022 financial results are not comparable with those of the first quarter 2021 due to the different balance calculation methodology applied. This year balance has been determined in line with the traditional traffic risk sharing mechanism and it is therefore conditioned by the typical air traffic seasonality where the first quarter has the lowest volume while the summer has the highest one. Last year, however, balance was determined applying an efficiency target to the actual determined costs, according to EU Regulation 2020/1627, in order to contain the effects of the pandemic. Therefore, the first quarter of 2021 results reflected the greater linearity of cost compared to traffic, deleting the usual seasonality, which shows a lower traffic and revenue volumes in the winter period compared to the summer as opposed to costs which tend to be more flat during the year.

Total consolidated revenues, in the first quarter of 2022, amounted to €168.1 million, a decrease of 11.1% compared to the same period in 2021, due to a lower balance recorded in the period following the increase in revenue from operating activities linked to the air traffic recovery. In the first quarter of 2022, balance had a positive impact on revenues for only €12.4 million.

Revenues from operating activities, in 1Q 2022, increased three times compared to the first quarter of 2021, reaching €147.3 million compared to €49.3 million in 1Q 2021, due to the strong recovery in air traffic. 

Revenues from the non-regulated market amounted to €6 million, an increase of €1.1 million compared to 1Q 2021, confirming the positive trend recorded in the last part of 2021.

Thanks to the initiatives aimed at improving efficiency, operating costs grew only a modest 5.9% compared to 1Q 2021 even though activities resumed to pre-pandemic levels.

External costs amounted to €33.6 million, an increase of 12.3%, compared to the first quarter 2021, mainly due to the increase in electricity cost, the development of orders in the non-regulated market and increased travels made by the Group’s operating personnel.

Personnel costs amounted to €125.9 million, showing an increase of 4.6% year on year, mainly due to the increase in air traffic volume that led to a return to standard operating personnel configuration. 

The different balance calculation methodology applied and the subsequent reduction in revenue, resulted in an EBITDA of €15.2 million, a decrease of 66%, compared to the first quarter of 2021, and an EBITDA margin of 9%.

The EBIT was negative for €14.2 million.

The ENAV Group closed the first quarter 2022 with a net loss of €15.4 million, in line with traditional pre-pandemic seasonality that sees the first quarter of the year having the lowest level of traffic volume and therefore revenue while cost follow a much more flat trend.

Net financial debt as at 31 March 2022 was €478.5 million, improving by €5 million compared to 31 December 2021, due to the effect of income and payment dynamics related to day-by-day operations, which produced a positive cash flow during the quarter.

ENAV: NEW 2022-2024 BUSINESS PLAN APPROVED AND

“FUTURE SKY 2031” LAUNCHED

Over one billion investments by 2031 on digital infrastructures, personnel professional growth, boost in the non-regulated business and long-term sustainability

• New systems for en-route aircraft management;

• Remote digital control towers;

• Personnel professional growth and talent acquisition towards digital innovation;

• New technologies for the centralised monitoring of all infrastructures;

• Full integration in the management of drones and traditional aircraft;

• Non-regulated business expansion;

• New staff to increase technical, operational, technological and digital skills.

The Future Sky Strategic Plan foresees total investments, by 2031, of over €1 billion, of which over 80% in sustainable technology and outlines a strategy to modernise the operating and maintenance model, digitising systems and renewing platforms for air traffic management.

Embedded in the Future Sky there is the new 2022-2024 Business Plan, which foresees investments for approximately €350 million and is geared towards the sustainable success of the Group, by retaining safety, as a key element, and undertaking a transformation program which focuses on technology and digitization. The Plan is based on six pillars. The first three, directly linked to ENAV’s operations, focus on technological and operational excellence, digital innovation and new market positioning. The other three represent a series of across-the-board actions, intersecting the first three and focusing on people, which will enable ENAV to generate value in the long term for all stakeholders with positive impacts for the sector and the entire supply chain.

NEW SYSTEMS FOR EN-ROUTE AIRCRAFT MANAGEMENT

The new operating systems envisaged by the Plan will be based on digitization, big data and artificial intelligence, essential elements to improve route planning and management, providing the best possible solutions in advance and dynamically, even in high traffic density situations or with actual scenarios that could differ from the planned ones. ENAV will be fully renewing its main airspace management system, adopting new tools including:

• A new and more flexible model of organization of the airspace and of the radar control service for en-route and for approach to airports;

• A new data processing and presentation system called 4Flight, based on an innovative trajectory prediction system, developed in collaboration with the French ANSP DSNA;

• A new “Arrival Manager” system that will advise controllers on the optimum sequence for separating aircraft arriving at congested airports, thereby effectively eliminating mandatory procedures for approaches to the runway with a significant reduction of fuel consumption and a further reduction of delays.

Partnered with the increase in airspace capacity, flight efficiency and safety are the main objectives for the implementation of the new platforms, that will be fully interoperable, i.e. they will allow the sharing of operations and data in real time between the systems of various entities (Service Providers, Carriers, Airports, Military Bodies) and the different countries cooperating in the flights management.

• Interoperability, at European level by 2030, will create an estimated environmental benefit of 3 million tonnes of lower fuel consumption, with a reduction of CO2 emissions of 9 million tonnes. This results is estimated to produce an economic efficiency of €15 billion.