The Lufthansa Group airlines welcomed around 13.2 million passengers in October, reflecting an increase of nine per cent compared to the previous year’s month.

The available seat kilometres were up 8.9 per cent over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 9.4 per cent. Consequently the seat load factor increased by 0.4 percentage points to 81.7 per cent as compared to October 2017.
 
Cargo capacity increased by 5.0 per cent year-on-year, while cargo sales decreased by 1.9 per cent in revenue tonne-kilometre terms. As a result, the Cargo load factor showed a corresponding reduction, decreasing by 4.6 percentage points to 65.6 per cent.

Network Airlines with around 9.6 million passengers

The Network Airlines including Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried around 9.6 million passengers in October – 7.4 per cent more than in the prior-year period. Compared to the previous year, the available seat kilometres increased by 7.0 per cent in October. The sales volume was up by 7.3 per cent over the same period, with an increasing seat load factor by 0.3 percentage points to 81.8 per cent.

Double-digit growth at Vienna Hub

In October, the strongest passenger growth of the network airlines was recorded at Vienna hub with a double-digit growth of 11.7 per cent, followed by Zurich with 9.8 per cent. The number of passengers increased by 9.1 per cent in Munich and 3.6 per cent in Frankfurt. The underlying offer also increased strongest in Vienna by 15.6 per cent. In Munich, the increase in available seat kilometres was 12.6 per cent, in Zurich 11.4 per cent and in Frankfurt only 1.2 per cent.

Lufthansa German Airlines transported around 6.4 million passengers in October, a 5.8 per cent increase compared to the same month last year. A 4.5 per cent increase in seat kilometres in October corresponds to a 4.1 per cent increase in sales. Furthermore, the seat load factor was 81.4 per cent, corresponding 0.3 percentage points below last year’s level.

Eurowings welcomes 3.7 million passengers

Eurowings (including Brussels Airlines) carried around 3.7 million passengers in October. Among this total, 3.4 million passengers were on short-haul flights and 280,000 flew on long-haul flights. This amounts to an increase of 13.4 per cent in comparison to the previous year. October capacity was 17.9 per cent above its prior-year level, while its sales volume was up 19.0 per cent, resulting in an increase of seat load factor by 0.8 percentage points to 81.4 per cent.

On short-haul services the airlines raised capacity by 13.4 per cent and increased sales volume by 14.1 per cent, resulting in a 0.5 percentage points increased seat load factor of 82.1 per cent, compared to October 2017. The seat load factor for the long-haul services increased by 1.6 percentage points to 79.8 per cent during the same period, following a 28.2 per cent increase in capacity and a 30.7 per cent rise in sales volume, compared to the previous year. – TradeArabia News Service