Recaro Aircraft Seating said its 2020 financial results were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing it to revamp its long-term approach. Despite reporting double-digit growth rates over the past 10 years, Recaro earned 295 million euros in 2020, which was 60 percent less than the company’s 2019 revenue. The aircraft seating company currently employs 2,100 team members across its five sites around the world. Although the sites experienced headcount reductions by up to 30 percent, Recaro was able to reach a significant deal with its employees at its Schwaebisch Hall headquarters to secure their employment through mid-2023.
“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. “I am confident and optimistic that we will emerge stronger than ever from the current situation and continue driving comfort in the sky.”
At the start of the crisis, Recaro made adjustments to support the company’s internal and external goals for long-term success. Robust measures from the company’s global efficiency programme, Touch & Go, reduced costs by 18 percent across all sites and implemented 150 projects to support efficiency. Management teams contributed extra savings through salary cuts and the implementation of “short-time work” at the Schwaebisch Hall site also helped save resources.
Although there were many challenges in 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. Recaro also earned positive feedback from its external customer survey and internal employee survey, and earned an award from Airbus for its in-service support.
Recaro has entered the regional jet market for the first time and announced KLM Cityhopper as its first regional jet customer and will be using a novel hybrid layout. Seats for the Indigo Partners award, the largest in Recaro history, take flight for the first time in March. Recaro is driving sustainability forward to contribute to the eco-efficiency of aviation as solution provider. The space2grow expansion projects in construction at Recaro headquarters remain on track: the customer service area, crash facility and flam lab are slated to open in fall 2021.
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