Written and provided by: Flixbus
Munich, 15 February 2023 – Flix SE (“Flix”), the global provider of affordable and green transport, has reported record-breaking numbers today on the 10th anniversary of the first FlixBus ride.
With a global revenue of more than £1.3bn (1.5bn EUR) and profitability on an EBITDA level, 2022 has been the most successful year in the Flix history – and a revenue increase of 185% compared to 2021.
More than 60 million passengers in 40 countries travelled with FlixBus, FlixTrain, Greyhound in North America and Kamil Koc in Türkiye. Since its launch, Flix has carried close to 300 million travellers.
“2022 was our most successful year so far,” says André Schwämmlein, co-founder and CEO of Flix. “This shows more than ever that Flix is positioned in a highly attractive growth market– we stand for modern mobility, sustainability and digitalisation. And we are just getting started.”
The company also announced a positive outlook, with at least 20% profitable revenue growth for 2023, and plans to continue investing in the expansion of both FlixBus and FlixTrain.
Flix operates in the UK and 34 European countries, serving a total of almost 3,000 destinations. FlixTrain remains a highly attractive offer for customers in Germany and Sweden.
In total, FlixBus and FlixTrain carried more than 38 million travellers in Europe in 2022. The UK market, which launched in April 2021, celebrated its 1 millionth customer last year.
FlixTrain will also be a key part of Flix’s expansion in the future and play a crucial role in shaping the mobility landscape. Fueled by positive developments on a regulatory level, European rail has become a promising growth market.
Since launching FlixTrain five years ago, millions of passengers have used the rail offer in Germany and Sweden. Recently, FlixTrain announced to be part of the EU pilot services to boost cross-border rail in the upcoming years with connection between Germany and Switzerland as well as between Germany and Sweden.
The next milestone of FlixBus’ global expansion will be the launch in Chile in 2023. After Brazil, Chile will be the second FlixBus market in South America and the world’s 41st country with green long-distance buses on the road.
Flix has started operations in Brazil in December 2021 and is now serving 33 destinations in the largest South American bus market. Flix will continue to expand the network in 2023 as the offer is being well received by the customers.
Central to Flix’s vision is that access to sustainable and affordable travel is a right for everyone, which is why the company aims not only to grow profitably, but also responsibly and sustainably.
André Schwämmlein: “Driving the green mobility revolution has always been the DNA of Flix. With technology enabling intelligent route planning, strong partnerships to explore and realise alternative drive technologies, a path towards carbon neutrality and expanding our network we are well on track.”
Flix is currently preparing its first voluntary Environmental Social Governance (ESG) report in line with the global standard Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), to best investigate and measure its sustainability achievements, and identify future steps. This vision is likewise being pursued through Flix’s recent commitment to SBTi (Science-based Target Initiative), aimed at monitoring and assessing the future efforts in terms of greenhouse gases emission reduction, and the UN Global Compact, providing a globally recognised policy framework for developing, implementing and disclosing ESG policies and practices.
Such recent commitments add to the efforts put forward by Flix all along within its climate strategy. In 2022, only by using state-of-the-art vehicles and incentivising people to prefer collective travel options over their cars and other modes of transport, 818,000 tons of CO2 were avoided.
In terms of impact reduction, fleet transformation plays a key role at Flix. Among other things, the company pioneered the first long distance e-Buses and solar panels, launched biogas and colza biofuel lines, and joined forces with leading industry actors to further enhance the use of alternative drives on long routes: examples include the deal with Freudenberg Sealing Technologies and ZF to launch the first bus powered with green hydrogen in Europe and the partnership with Daimler Buses to develop a fully electric drive for long-distance coaches.
Since 2015, over 98,000 tons of CO₂ have been offset, equaling to more than 3.7bn km travelled by FlixBus.
