Lufthansa sees major rise in traffic

Lufthansa, Germany’s flag carrier, has seen its passenger figures increase by as much as 33 percent during the month of April, when compared to numbers from the same period last year. As such, over 6 million passengers travelled with this major European airline. Yet analysts caution that one must not lose track of the fact that the main reason for this impressive increase was that these figures incorporate traffic generated by Lufthansa’s subsidiaries, including Swiss International Airlines, which also performed well last month. Ever since last July, Lufthansa has included Swiss passenger figures in its own totals.

Despite the increase in the number of passengers overall, the German carrier’s load factor-a term used to calculate the proportion of seats that are filled on each flight-actually declined from 78.9 percent to 78.3 percent during this period. Yet Lufthansa was quick to point out that the decrease in the carrier’s load factor was due almost solely to the fact that the airline increased its capacity by significant proportions on some of its routes. For example, Lufthansa increased capacity within Europe by 9 percent, while the number of available seats also jumped to 8.3 percent in the Americas. European ticket sales jumped by around 6.3 percent, while those in the US and Canada were up by 5.4 percent.

In terms of its load factor, Swiss International actually seems to have outperformed Lufthansa. The proportion of seats filled on flights stood at 81 percent this past April. Together, the two airlines saw reservations increase by 12 percent last month.

www.lufthansa.com