The FINANCIAL — The April traffic figures of the Austrian Airlines Group continue to reflect the global economic crisis. Due to the sharply reduced demand for flights, the company carried a total of 795,500 passengers in April, -12.7 % fewer than in comparison with the strong month of April 2008.
By employing more intensive marketing activities and making a timely and targeted reduction in the level of production of -8.2 %, the company succeeded in preventing a greater fall in the load factor in April. In the short- and medium-haul segment, it even proved possible to raise the load factor by 2.0 points. Within this positive development, the rise of the load factor in the traffic area Western Europe by 4.2 percentage points to 74.2 % is remarkable. Also, the drastic fall in demand in the traffic area of Eastern Europe could be fully compensated by an anticipated reduction of capacity, which led to a constant load factor in this subsegment.
"2.7 million passengers were carried in the period from January to April, -14.8 % fewer than in the same period in 2008. The overall passenger load factor in the first four months of 2009 was 70.4 %, or -3.1 percentage points below the figure for last year," Austrian Airlines declares.
Short- and medium-haul segment
In the short- and medium-haul segment, the Austrian Airlines Group reported a reduction in passenger volume in April 2009 of -10.3 % compared to April 2008. Around 654,800 passengers were carried. Capacity (measured in available seat kilometers or ASK) was reduced by -6.6 % in light of the weak demand, with revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) down by just -3.9 %. This produced a positive trend in the load factor on short- and medium-haul routes: the load factor rose by 2.0 percentage points compared to April 2008, reaching 71.1 %. This development is mostly due to a strong rise in the traffic area of Western Europe (incl. domestic traffic): In this field, the Austrian Airlines Group could achieve a strong growth by 4.2 percentage points up to 74.2 %. The company anticipated the fall in demand in Eastern Europe by a reduction of capacity (ASK) by -3.3 %. With this measure, Austrian kept the load factor constant in this subsegment in spite of the negative environment (68.3 %).
The short- and medium-haul segment saw a reduction in passenger volume of -12.9 % from January to April to a total of 2.3 million passengers carried, a negative trend essentially produced by the current economic crisis. Revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) on scheduled services fell by -8.6 %, while scheduled capacity (ASK) in this segment was reduced by -5.8 %. This resulted in a load factor of 63.8 %, a reduction of -2.0 percentage points compared to 2008.
Long-haul segment
For structural reasons, passenger volume in April 2009 was -15.1 % lower than in the figure for April 2008, with a total of 78,100 passengers being carried in this segment. Long-haul capacity (ASK) was down by -8.7 %, revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) were -13.5 % lower than last year. The load factor fell by -4.4 % as a result, to 79.3 %.
Around 283,600 passengers were carried on scheduled services in the first four months of this year, -22.1 % down on last year, also as a result of the planned reduction in flight capacity (e.g. the cancellation of the Mumbai route). Available seat kilometers (ASK) were reduced by -15.9 % according to plan, while revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) fell by -20.0 %. This produced a passenger load factor of 76.8 %, the equivalent of a reduction of -3.9 percentage points.
Charter segment Targeted reduction in capacity to stabilise load factor
In the charter segment, too, the reduced demand caused by the economic crisis was met with a significant cut in capacity carried out according to plan.
With the targeted lower capacity (ASK down by -14.2 %), 62,600 passengers were carried in April, a fall of -29.8 %, while the passenger load factor was 78.1 %.
Capacity was reduced by -13.5 % in the first four months of the year, with revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) falling by -15.0 %. The load factor only fell by -1.3 percentage points as a result.
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