By Sade Williams/TravelPort
In January 2019, the Lufthansa Group airlines welcomed around 9.1 million passengers, representing an increase of 4.8 percent year-on-year.
The available seat kilometers were up 7.3 percent over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 8.1 percent. In addition as compared to January 2018, the seat load factor increased by 0.6 percentage points to 76.2 percent.
Cargo capacity increased by 7.0 percent year-on-year, while cargo sales decreased by 5.0 percent in revenue ton-kilometer terms. As a result, the Cargo load factor showed a corresponding reduction, decreasing by 7.5 percentage points to 59.1 percent.
The network airlines recorded around seven million passengers. The network airlines, including Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried 6.7 million passengers in January, a 3.7 percent increase over same period in the previous year.
Compared to the previous year, the available seat kilometers increased by 6.1 percent in January. The sales volume was up by 7.0 percent over the same period, with an increasing seat load factor by 0.7 percentage points to 76.5 percent.
In January, the strongest passenger growth of the network airlines was recorded at the Zurich and Vienna hub with 7.9 percent (Zurich) and 7.0 percent (Vienna). The number of passengers increased by 2.5 percent in Munich and 1.1 percent in Frankfurt.
The underlying offer also increased to varying degrees: in Munich by 14.6 percent, in Zurich by 10.8 percent and in Vienna by 8.2 percent. Supply in Frankfurt remained almost constant (0.2 percent).
Lufthansa German Airlines transported 4.6 million passengers in January, a 1.8 percent increase compared to the same month last year. A 4.3 percent increase in seat kilometers corresponds to a 4.0 percent increase in sales.
Furthermore, the seat load factor was 76.4 percent, corresponding 0.2 percentage points below last year’s level.
Eurowings increases seat load factor despite significant expansion of product range.
Eurowings (including Brussels Airlines) carried around 2.3 million passengers in January. Among this total, 2.1 million passengers were on short-haul flights and 262,000 flew on long-haul flights. This amounts to an increase of 8.3 percent in comparison to the previous year. January capacity was 13.4 percent above its prior-year level, while its sales volume was up 13.7 percent, resulting in an increase of seat load factor by 0.2 percentage points to 75.0 percent.
On short-haul services the airlines raised capacity by 13.6 percent and increased sales volume by 13.5 percent, resulting in a 0.1 percentage points decreased seat load factor of 69.1 percent, compared to January 2018. The seat load factor for the long-haul services increased by 0.6 percentage points to 83.4 percent during the same period, following a 13.0 percent increase in capacity and a 13.9 percent rise in sales volume, compared to the previous year.
