SWISS reports growth in passenger and cargo volumes in the first nine months

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SWISS reports growth in passenger and cargo volumes in the first nine months

Thursday, 11 October 2012

SWISS reports growth in passenger and cargo volumes in the first nine months

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) transported 12,057,276 passengers in the first nine months of 2012, a 4.3% increase on the 11,564,481 passengers of the prior-year period. The airline operated 114,103 flights in the period, up 1.1% on the 112,915 flights of January-to-September 2011. The 83.5% systemwide seat load factor for the nine-month period was also a 1.4-percentage-point improvement on the prior-year result.

On its European network SWISS raised its available seat-kilometre (ASK) capacity 3.3% in the first nine months of 2012 compared to the same period last year. Total traffic volume for the period rose 4.1% in revenue-passenger-kilometre (RPK) terms. Systemwide seat load factor improved accordingly, rising 0.5 percentage points from the 74.9% of 2011 to 75.4%.

January-to-September ASK capacity on SWISS’s intercontinental routes was a 5.7% increase on the prior-year period. Here, too, the growth was outpaced by a 7.8% increase in RPK traffic volumes, raising systemwide seat load factor 1.7 percentage points from 85.9% to 87.6%.

The airfreight business of SWISS’s Swiss WorldCargo division posted a 6% increase in sales for the first-nine-month period in revenue-tonne-kilometre terms. Cargo load factor (by volume) stood at 78.7%, a 0.5-percentage-point improvement on the 78.2% of January-to-September 2011.

High load factors for September, but tough earnings environment prevails

A total of 1,396,884 passengers flew SWISS in September 2012, a 4.4% increase on the 1,337,619 of the same month last year. SWISS operated 12,620 flights in September, 1.3% more than in the prior-year period. Of these, 11,199 were in Europe (up 1.2%) and 1,421 on intercontinental routes (up 2.5%).

The earnings situation remained tough in September, too, even though ASK capacity was 6.5% up, RPK traffic volumes rose 8.6% and the 86.8% systemwide seat load factor was a 1.7-percentage-point improvement on the 85.1% of the same month last year. European seat load factor for the month stood at 79.6% (up 1.0 percentage points), while intercontinental seat load factor amounted to 90.5% (up 1.9 percentage points).

Swiss WorldCargo reported a September cargo load factor (by volume) of 79.4%, a 2.2-percentage-point improvement on the 77.2% of September 2011. Total cargo sales for the month were up 10.8% in revenue-tonne-kilometre terms.

Source = Swiss International Air Lines