Neos, heading for the billion revenue mark with long haul

On Wednesday 4 June the first flight connecting New York with Bari will land, while by the end of June Neos will receive the 18th aircraft in its fleet from Boeing. In the space of a decade the airline, part of Alpitour World one of the main European players in the tourism sector, has doubled the number of planes and of these six are used for intercontinental routes. A fleet that in 2024 transported over 2.3 million passengers to over 183 airports in 62 countries. A path of growth that has made turnover take off in recent years. "I think the company will end 2025 with a turnover of 850 million, 2.5 million passengers carried and we will be ready for the billion in two to three years. Today we are bigger than the former second Italian company (Meridiana ndr),' explains Carlo Stradiotti, CEO of Neos. An expected growth of just over 9% after a 2024 closed with 777 million in revenue and a net profit of 40 million. Long-haul is increasingly becoming part of the company's core business and confirmation indirectly comes from Bari - New York, the first connection linking the two metropolises. "The New York Times has also reported on it and in the US there is great interest, attention for this route and ticket sales are higher than expected," continued the CEO. "Filling rates based on bookings are interesting and it has not been necessary to resort to promotions. In other words, for North American tourists it becomes quicker and more convenient to reach, for example, the widespread hotels in Matera, where the Group has recently opened the ninth hotel in the VRetreats collection, the Salento or Bernalda where Francis Ford Coppola has Palazzo Margherita, a 5-star hotel. Not forgetting the tourism of roots, with over eighteen million Americans claiming their Italian origins.

"The Palermo-New York route inaugurated in June 2024 is also going very well and will resume next 6 June," adds Stradiotti. Looking ahead to the holiday season from his privileged observatory, the CEO sees 'positive signs, but it will be a different summer, more difficult than the previous two due to geopolitics and stock exchange fluctuations. Now in the US those who want to make a voluptuous purchase are thinking, considering better what to do. For the coming winter there is greater price sensitivity to spend the right amount'.

For the coming winter season, the carrier will focus on two Eastern European markets: the Czech Republic and Poland, 'nations with economic development rates higher than ours and a young population,' Stradiotti points out. Neos in these countries will offer a series of long-haul connections to Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Madagascar and Zanzibar. Tourist destinations to be served as a commercial carrier, but the CEO points out that 'Neos is the reference company for organised tourism, both incoming and outgoing, and we do not want to become a low cost company. We are trying to find a space in the core business that has changed in distribution methods and now any flight needs to be sold on all channels because the 'old' charter model no longer exists. We remain a carrier at the service of Alpitour World with a unique integration but also with other players in the tourism industry. Currently between tourist and scheduled traffic we are at a 70-30 ratio'.

The company operates four hubs of which Malpensa is the main one, but in the post covid there is an anomaly on aviation fuel prices. 'Until 2019, prices at the major Italian airports were aligned,' the CEO continues. 'For some reason afterwards, the price at Malpensa grew with a differential between $40 and $50 a tonne compared to Fiumicino and Naples. An extra cost for the airlines that penalises the operators who have decided to be based at Milan Malpensa, but we do not understand the reasons. We do not understand whether these are infrastructural or commercial issues on which it is urgent to work to protect the competitiveness of the Lombardy airport. For Neos it is an increased expense close to 4.5 million a year'.