In April 2018, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group welcomed around 12.2 million passengers, marking an increase of 9.1 per cent compared to the previous year’s month, although last year's German Easter holidays fell in April.

 The available seat kilometres were up 7.4 per cent over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by six percent. The seat load factor decreased by 1.1 percentage points compared to April 2017 to 81.2 per cent. In the first four months of 2018, the Group continues to record levels of capacity, capacity utilization and passenger numbers.

The currency-adjusted sales environment developed positively in April compared to the previous year.

Cargo capacity increased 6.9 per cent year-on-year, while cargo sales were up 3.4 per cent in revenue tonne-kilometre terms. As a result, the Cargo load factor showed a corresponding reduction, decreasing 2.3 percentage points in the month to 67.2 per cent.

Network Airlines

The Network Airlines Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried 8.9 million passengers in April, 6.1 per cent more than in the prior-year period. Compared to the previous year, the available seat kilometres increased by 5.4 per cent in April. The sales volume was up 3.8 per cent over the same period, decreasing seat load factor by 1.2 percentage points to 81.2 per cent.

Lufthansa German Airlines transported 5.9 million passengers in April, a 4.7 per cent increase compared to the same month last year. A 3.8 per cent increase in seat kilometres in April corresponds to a 1.7 per cent increase in sales. Furthermore, the seat load factor was 80.7 per cent, therefore 1.7 percentage points below the prior-year’s level.

Eurowings Group

The Eurowings Group with the airlines Eurowings (including Germanwings) and Brussels Airlines carried around 3.3 million passengers in April. Among this total, three million passengers were on short-haul flights and 250,000 flew long-haul. This amounts to an increase of 18.3 per cent in comparison to the previous year. April capacity was 17.9 per cent above its prior-year level, while its sales volume was up 17.0 per cent, resulting in a decreased seat load factor by 0.7 percentage points of 81.2 per cent.

On short-haul services the Airlines raised capacity 20.9 per cent and increased sales volume by 20.3 per cent, resulting in a 0.4 percentage points decrease in seat load factor of 80.3 per cent, compared to April 2017. The seat load factor for the long-haul services decreased by 0.9 percentage points to 83.2 per cent during the same period, following a 12.0 per cent increase in capacity and a 10.8 per cent rise in sales volume, compared to the previous year.- TradeArabia News Service