The FINANCIAL — With some 1.446 million passengers carried in total, the Austrian Airlines Group welcomed 2.9% more guests onto its aircraft in January and February 2008 than it did in the same period the previous year.
In February 2008 specifically, 4.5% more passengers were carried than in February 2007. This strong traffic result is primarily the result of continuous strong growth in the short- and medium-haul segment. Due to the reduction in services in the long-haul segment, which was not completed until the end of Q2 2007, levels of both flight capacity and demand in the long-haul segment are lower this year than in 2007. Despite the cutback in long-haul capacity, however, the Group was able to carry more passengers in the first two months of 2008 than in the same period last year when viewed cumulatively and across all segments (even with the larger long-haul capacity last year). This result affirms the company’s strategy.
Short- and medium-haul routes act as hugely effective engine of growth
The trend in the short- and medium-haul segment in February 2008 was once again disproportionately strong, with very strong passenger growth of 11.6% compared to the February 2007. Revenue passenger kilometers on these scheduled services (RPK) increased by 15.3% compared to 2007, with scheduled capacity (ASK) rising by 12.1%. The resultant improved passenger load factor of 64.3% was 1.8 percentage points above the previous year’s figure.
Cumulatively, the Austrian Airlines Group transported approximately 1.176 million passengers on scheduled services in the short- and medium-haul segment in the first two months of the year, an increase of 9.9% compared to the same period in 2007. While capacity on scheduled services (ASK) was expanded by 8.7%, the company succeeded in growing its revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) at the disproportionately strong rate of 13.1% on these scheduled services. The passenger load factor in this segment reached 62.9%, or 2.4 percentage points above the figure for the same period in 2007.
Long-haul
Due to the structural effect of the reduction in the number of long-haul routes at the end of the second quarter of 2007, the comparable figures for the same period in 2008 have fallen. Scheduled capacity in the long-haul segment (ASK) fell according to plan by 31.7% in February, while revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) in the long-haul segment were 35.2% down on the respective comparable figures for the previous year. The passenger load factor was 78.6%, or 4.2 percentage points below last year’s figure.
Cumulatively, the Austrian Airlines Group carried around 176,000 passengers on its scheduled services in the long-haul segment in January and February 2008, or 25.3% fewer than in the first two months of 2007. While capacity on scheduled services (ASK) was reduced by 32.1% due to structural changes, revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) on those scheduled services fell by 35.9%. The passenger load factor in the long-haul segment was 78.2% and
4.6 percentage points below the figure for the previous year.
Charter segment well-positioned
The 5.7% reduction in passenger volume in the Charter segment in January and February 2008, to around 93,000 passengers carried, results from the fact that the company is currently using a smaller charter fleet than at this time last year. As many as four extra aircraft were available for use in January 2007, and even after the removal of two Slovak Airlines jets at the end of that month, the company was still operating two more aircraft in February 2007 than in January and February 2008. Both these aircraft are now deployed in the high-growth short- and medium-haul scheduled segment of the Austrian Airlines Group.
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