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Saturday 7 November 2020
American cruise giant Carnival has no revenue in the summer and burns huge sums of money every month. The German branch Aida is now holding a hearing for state aid. At the same time, the head of the company offers the prospect of price increases. And it has no good news for shipyards either.
The cruise company Aida has asked for state aid. As reported by the NDR, quoting an insider, a corresponding application was submitted to the Economic Stabilization Fund. This is aid for 400 million euros. The state would guarantee the sum. At the same time, state participation is under discussion. In “Welt am Sonntag”, Aida boss Michael Thamm said: “We are in talks with the federal government to grant loans in the mid-range of three-digit million euros.” The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs did not provide any information.
“We have lost 400 million euros in sales every month,” said Thamm. “We can’t compensate for this with cost reductions.” In recent months, Costa, the largest European cruise operator, which also includes Aida, has suffered a three-digit million loss in the mid-range. In this context, Thamm also promised price increases: “It is conceivable that the cruises will be 10 to 15 percent more expensive,” he said. Even so, the Costa and Aida-branded races would “remain accessible”.
Thamm expects the supplier to gradually have all ships in service over the course of 2021. If the pandemic allows it, this will happen as early as spring. We will “try with great precision” not to let infected people get on board. Then, however, customers will once again be able to offer buffets, pool parties and onboard discos. However, for the moment the Costa Group does not want to order more ships. Four new buildings ordered will be accepted as planned. “We will be big enough by then and we won’t order new ships in the next two or three years,” he said. “This will surely lead to dramatic failures in shipyards and suppliers,” Costa’s chief said.
Aida mother with billions less
By the end of October, the Kussmund fleet had stopped cruise operations that had only started a few weeks ago. All trips scheduled for November have been canceled. The background is the ban on tourist accommodation decided by the federal and state governments for the entire month. The shipping company currently expects to be able to resume operations in December.
For the listed owner of Aida, the world’s largest cruise operator Carnival, this is a setback. Much of the fleet has been in ports for months. In the United States, cruises should be possible again from December. The sister brand of Aida Costa Cruises from Italy had canceled individual trips only at the end of October and had shortened others due to the exit restrictions in place in Europe.
American cruise giant Carnival recently announced that it had hardly made any money over the summer. Revenue for the year decreased 99.5% to $ 31 million. The final result was less than about 2.5 billion euros. For the remaining three months of the year, the company had expected to lose an average of $ 530 million each. That would be another 1.5 billion euros less in the fourth quarter. The sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia got involved in the spring. The stake has lost more than two-thirds of its value since the beginning of the year.
The company had already announced its intention to separate from 18 ships. Last year, Carnival had an average of 92,000 employees on its ships across the Group, as well as 12,000 full-time and 2,000 part-time or seasonal.
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