Tocumen increased its income by 26%
Posted on 2019-06-12
After closing 2018 with a 1% drop in operating income, the country's main air terminal resumed flight in the first quarter of this year and there was an increase in cash flow from the movement of passengers and aircraft.
In the combined first three months of the year, Tocumen, SA reported revenues of 66 million dollars, an increase of 26% when compared to the data of the first quarter of last year.
A greater influx of passengers entering and leaving allowed the state company, administrator of the country's air terminals, to capture more funds from the departure tax and the tax charged by the airlines for each passenger that uses the airports.
In absolute terms, in the first quarter of the year the flow of passengers (which includes those who make transit) rose 4.2%, while the movement of entry and exit went up by 12% and 13%, respectively.
Temístocles Rosas , Vice President of Administration and Finance of Tocumen, SA, pointed out that commercial revenues grew in recent months, as a result of the new commercial concessions that were enabled in terminal 1 (T1).
In addition, the airport has already completed the tender for the duty free blocks of the new passenger terminal (T2). This implies that the company has already received part of the economic benefits for the concessions, but the operators of the commercial spaces have not yet entered into operation.
Of expenses and utility
In the first quarter of this year, personnel expenses were 8.9 million dollars, against 9.3 million dollars in the first quarter of 2018, while financial costs increased 6.5 million dollars to 10.4 million dollars.
This increase is due to the payments that Tocumen made to comply with the interests of the bond issues that have been made since 2012, and that have left a debt of one thousand 250 million dollars.
Last year, Tocumen restructured the bonds issued in 2012 and 2013 for 650 million dollars and extended its maturity until 2048, after agreeing with its creditors a 30-year extension.
After paying taxes and other levies, the first quarter of the year left the state company a profit of 22.2 million dollars, a year-on-year increase of 6.6 million dollars.
In an attempt to make the operation more efficient, in March, Tocumen hired the consulting firm KPMG to check if the airlines operating at the airport were paying the corresponding payment for each passenger, after a drop in the collection of this tax.
The result of the analysis that will focus on the passenger movement registered between January 1, 2017 and September 2018 has not yet been revealed.
Last year Tocumen recorded total revenues of 236.8 million dollars, an increase of 3.3% with the results of a year earlier, but below the estimated 250 million dollars.
Based on the movement of passengers during the first months of the year and projections for the coming quarters, Rosas estimates that this year the airport should obtain revenues of 250 million dollars and a profit of 65 million dollars.
These numbers would have been better if the premises that will operate in the new passenger terminal in Tocumen were already operating, but delays in the execution of the project, by the construction company Odebrecht, have prevented the new concessionaires from assuming control of the space allocated by the airport.
With the extension of four months that Tocumen gave to Odebrecht last May, the works will be extended until the end of September, which means that a high percentage of commercial premises will start operating at the end of the year or in the first months of 2020. , depriving the airport of a significant flow of money.
Source: La Prensa
