2024 Mid-Year Financial Results: Key Insights & Performance!

Record passenger demand supports strong revenue growth Proactive capacity management enabled significant improvement in RASK and EBITDAR in second quarter  

Highlights 

• Strong growth of revenue and EBITDAR in H1 o Total revenue and other income excluding non-recurring items¹ increased 12.9% YoY to USD 586.2M (H1 2023: USD 519.1M).
  • Adjusted EBITDAR excluding non-recurring items¹ was up 9.8% YoY to USD 138.7M. Adjusted EBITDAR margin excluding non-recurring items¹ was 23.7% (H1 2023:

24.3%).

• ASK increased 11.8% YoY to 8.7B (H1 2023: 7.8B).
• RASK excluding non-recurring items¹ increased 1.0% YoY to USD 6.73¢ (H1 2023: USD 6.67¢), offsetting 2.5% increase in CASK. 

• Growing momentum in Q2 o Total revenue and other income excluding non-recurring items¹ increased 12.6% YoY to USD 321.4M (Q2 2023: USD 285.4M).
  • Adjusted EBITDAR excluding non-recurring items¹ was up 11.5% YoY to USD 88.7M with an improved Adjusted EBITDAR margin excluding non-recurring items¹ in Q2 of 27.6%.
  • Proactive yield management across both airline brands resulted in RASK excluding non-recurring items¹ growing 3.4% YoY to USD 7.02¢ (Q2 2023: 6.79¢). 

• Record first half passengers on increased capacity and new route launches o Total number of Group passengers carried increased 14.6% to 4.0M with a steady average load factor of 82.0% (H1 2023: 82.7%).
  • Strong growth across Asia. o Expanded capacity to China routes following higher growth of demand than anticipated.
  • Strengthened connections to South Korea with resumption of twice-weekly, direct Astana–Seoul flights in addition to daily Almaty–Seoul flights.
  • Launched four new charter destinations. 

• Fleet development ahead of plan o Added six aircraft in H1 2024, focused on narrow body fleet to service home and nearhome markets.
  • Group fleet size expanded ahead of plan from 49 aircraft at the end of 2023 to 54 aircraft during the period. By the end of the year, the Group now expects to expand the fleet by an extra three aircraft than initially planned (from 49 to 59 instead of 56).
  • Fleet simplification accelerated by bringing forward the redelivery of the two Embraer E2s; in April and, post period, in early July.
  • Up to five additional A320ceo family aircraft in 2024-2025, two of which were delivered in June-July 2024 with a third to be delivered in September (A321ceo) and a further two in the first quarter of 2025.
  • In July 2024, an agreement for the operating lease of seven Airbus A321neo LR was signed with deliveries starting from 2026. 

• Proactive mitigation of Pratt & Whitney engine issues, ahead of the industry o Reached an agreement with Pratt & Whitney in March 2024 for compensation and other support for the impact to the Group’s operations. o Successfully rested fleet in low seasons to optimise fleet during high season in summer. o Adding capacity with A320ceo aircraft in 2024-2025. o By the end of H1 2024 the Company purchased 7 spare engines.
  • One more spare engine added on lease in July 2024 in addition to two leased in April 2024. 

• Industry-wide cost pressures mitigated by low-cost, flexible model and optimising yield across brands o Continued focus on operational cost efficiency.
  • CASK excluding non-recurring items¹ increased 2.5% in H1 to US 6.21¢ (H1 2023: US 6.06¢), driven by industry-wide cost inflation, higher airport rates, the Company’s continued investment into customer experience, and higher aircraft depreciation expenses from the fleet expansion. This was partly offset by lower Engineering and Maintenance costs.
  • Six in-house C-checks performed in H1 2024 and preparations underway for 12-year C-check planned for Airbus fleet in Q3 2024.
  • Sourcing Crew Rostering & Pairing Optimisers and a Document Management System to contribute towards further improvement of operational efficiency. 

• New international terminal opened in main hub Almaty to support structural growth o New international terminal at Almaty Airport became fully operational in June 2024, increasing capacity from 8 million to more than 14 million passengers per year and strengthening Almaty’s position as the busiest hub in Central Asia.
  • Brand new Shanyraq lounge in Almaty Airport dedicated to Air Astana’s Business Class and Nomad Club elite status customers to open in the coming months in addition to the revamped Astana Shanyraq that was reopened in Q2.

• Robust balance sheet and leverage ratio o Cash increased to USD 418.2M (H1 2023: USD 300.2M) with cash to sales ratio of 33.9% (H1 2023: 26.1%) before available facilities.
  • Group Net Debt / Adjusted EBITDAR reduced from 1.5x in FY23 to 1.4x in H1 2024, driven by organic cash generation and IPO proceeds. 

        •     Outlook

• The Group is well positioned for the summer with increased fleet and network capacity. Passenger demand remains strong across Air Astana and FlyArystan with a positive booking curve for the seasonally stronger Q3.  
• RASK growth performance is on track, although this is still expected to be outpaced by CASK in 2024, as previously guided. Capacity continues to be realigned to ensure highest margin delivery and mitigate inflationary cost pressures, while retaining a load factor broadly consistent with 2023.
• Fleet development to close out the year ahead of expectations, with 12 additional aircraft joining the fleet and redelivery of two E2 ahead of schedule. This will bring the total fleet to 59 aircraft by the end of 2024 across both brands (initial plan was 56 aircraft).
• As a result of proactive fleet management, and despite the ongoing challenges arising from Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, the Group remains on track to meet its mediumterm expectation of mid-to-high 20s EBITDAR margin with liquidity ratio above 25% and leverage below 3.0x Net Debt/EBITDAR.