As with many commercial aviation businesses, RECARO Aircraft Seating (Recaro) has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been reflected in the company’s 2020 financial results which were released this Thursday where it, earned €295 million in 2020, which was 60% less than 209 revenue.
Recaro has also revamped its long-term approach, while robust measures from the company’s global efficiency program, Touch & Go, successfully reduced costs by 18% across all sites and implemented 150 projects to support efficiency. Management teams created extra savings through salary cuts and the implementation of “short-time work” at the Schwaebisch Hall site also reduced the burden on resources.
“We remain dedicated as we continue to expand our global footprint, working on new innovations and motivating our key capital, our employees, with our internal culture code of ‘We Are Recaro,’” said Dr Mark Hiller, CEO and Shareholder at Recaro. “I am confident and optimistic that we will emerge stronger than ever from the current situation and continue driving comfort in the sky.”
During 2020, the lightest Recaro economy-class seat to-date, the SL3710, took flight for the first time on TAP Air Portugal and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, while this week it was also revealed the seat was making its North American debut with Frontier Airlines. The carrier is scheduled to take delivery of mixture of 156 A320neo and A321neo aircraft fitted out with 186 and 240 SL3710 seats respectively. Recaro has also entered the regional jet market for the first time and announced KLM Cityhopper as its first regional jet customer where Recaro will be using a novel hybrid layout.
