SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian airline Azul SA said on Monday it expects its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to reach a record of about 4 billion reais ($787.42 million) in 2022.
Available seat kilometers (ASK) are expected to grow 10% in 2022 from pre-pandemic 2019 levels, Azul said in a securities filing, while revenue per available seat-kilometer (RASK) is set to rise more than 20% when compared with 2019 levels.
“We have seen nine straight months of strong and growing leisure demand, while corporate demand accelerated rapidly,” Azul said, adding that it has also ended the first quarter with prices at record levels in both segments.
The company has also projected its EBITDA at about 5.5 billion reais in 2023.
Azul added that it expects to start lowering its leverage measured by the net debt/EBITDA ratio, which is seen reaching 5 at the end of this year before falling to 4 in 2023 and 3 in 2024.
($1 = 5.0799 reais)
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Toby Chopra and Louise Heavens)