Financial performance of airlines and airline holdings

The previous chapters described basic aircraft sourcing and financing options that air passenger and freight transport companies can choose of, how the different players in the market have so far planned and acquired capacity, and that control over the asset aircraft seems to play an increasingly critical role. The illustration of operating and net results of ICAO scheduled airlines (cf. Figure 4) and of growth of air traffic in line with global GDP (cf. Figure 13) gave a first glance on the business performance of the air transport industry. The financial performance of airlines and airline holding companies – as key element of this thesis – has yet not been looked at. This chapter provides a view over the historical financial situation of selected airlines and airline holding companies from two perspectives, the stock market performance and the key operating figures from the financial statements.