EMEA airlines: margin descent commencing? (Wizz Air stays BUY; Aegean Airlines, Pegasus Airlines and Turkish Airlines stay HOLDs)
The past two years have been a very profitable period for a number of airlines globally. The demand for travel rebounded sharply as the pandemic receded. This pulled the fare levels up, ushering in an era of record-high margins. Carriers able to ramp-up capacity quickly, while keeping costs in check, benefitted particularly. The ticket prices are still above the pre-pandemic levels. However, some airlines (Pegasus, Turkish Airlines) are seeing some softening of fares already, from the high base of 2023. Others, including Ryanair, are seeing fares growing less than expected previously. The consensus tends to extrapolate the recent results forward – with inherently short (2-3M) visibility on fares, spotting large shifts in margins in advance is difficult. In 2024E and possibly 2025E, fares may not be growing fast enough to compensate for unit costs pressures, which could lead to margins reverting towards the long-term run-rate. We are not taking a strong view on how far the margins may compress, but we see a risk that, after two excellent years, the room for further upside surprises may be limited, and the risks for the consensus estimates may be skewed downwards. Against this backdrop, and after the very good share price performance of a number of profitable airlines globally, we would be selective with aviation exposure. In our coverage, Wizz Air (BUY, PT GBP 33/share) stands out, as it has largely missed out on the rebound rally, and we expect it to deliver the strongest earnings growth (a FY24-26E EBITDA CAGR of 22%) of any major European airline over the next 2-3Y.Aegean Airlines is an airline carrier based in Greece. Co. is engaged in aviation transportation, providing services that concern the transportation of passengers and commodities in the sector of public aviation transportation inside and outside Greece, conducting scheduled and unscheduled flights. Co. provides full service, premium quality short and medium haul services. Co. maintains a network of 145 destinations, 111 international in 45 countries and 34 domestic destinations. Co. is a member of global airline network, the Star Alliance network.
Pegasus Hava Tasimaciligi is a low-cost airline group based in Turkey. Co. provides reasonably-priced transportation opportunities on point-to-point basis in short and medium range flight lines on its domestic and international network. Co. primarily provides transportation opportunities from its main hub in Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, but also offers scheduled flights from other domestic hubs, primarily in Adana, Antalya and Izmir. Co.'s fleet is composed of 49 airplanes in total. Co.'s flight network consists of 76 locations (45 abroad and 31 domestic flight locations in 30 countries). Co. also provides cargo services and provides various training services.
Turk Hava Yollari is engaged in the airline industry with the airline flying to 103 destinations, throughout Turkey and internationally. As of the year end, Co. maintains 66 aircrafts with a total seat capacity of 10,672, and leases a A300-200 cargo aircraft. Co. has various services for their customers which include: various ways of checking in and on-line ticket sales.
Wizz Air Holding is a European airline. As of Mar 31 2017, Co. provided more than 500 routes from 28 bases, connecting 141 destinations across 42 countries. Co. has two reportable segments: the airline and the tour operator business units, marketed under the Wizz Air and Wizz Tours brand names, respectively. Wizz Air sells flight tickets and related services to external customers and, to an extent, to Wizz Tours. Wizz Tours sells travel packages to external customers covering the network of Wizz Air.
WOOD & Company is the leading investment bank in Emerging Europe. Founded in 1991 and head-quartered in Prague, our footprint spans the region and touches investors around the globe.
A pioneer in Emerging Europe, WOOD executed many of the first CEE equity trades and landmark investment banking transactions. Our electronic trading platform was the first in the region, and remains the best. We are continually expanding our relevance and reach in these ever-evolving markets.
Our equity market share reflects our stature: 7% in Warsaw, 20% in Bucharest, 16% in Hungary, 40% in Prague and 5% in Vienna. Our distribution is unparalleled, with the largest salesforce in the region, servicing a uniquely diverse investor base.
We couple local expertise with a truly international perspective. With offices on the ground in the region, and in key financial hubs such as London and Milano, we are never far from our clients and we remain at the forefront of what’s afoot in the CEE emerging and frontier landscape.
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