Lufthansa Group airlines welcome around 9 million passengers on board in February 2019 (+1.9%)

• Number of passengers rises by 1.9 percent year-on-year
• Capacity utilisation increases by 0.2 percentage points to 76.5 percent
• Passenger growth at Vienna and Zurich hubs remains high
• Eurowings with double-digit growth in product range and sales volume

In February 2019, the Lufthansa Group airlines welcomed around 9 million passengers. An increase of 1.9 percent compared to the previous year’s month. The available seat kilometres were up 7 percent over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 7.2 percent. In addition as compared to February 2018, the seat load factor increased by 0.2 percentage points to 76.5 percent.

Cargo capacity increased by 7.7 percent year-on-year, while cargo sales de­creased by 3.5 percent in revenue tonne-kilometre terms. As a result, the Cargo load factor showed a corresponding reduction, decreasing by 7.5 percentage points to 64.4 percent.

Network Airlines with around 6.6 million passengers

The Network Airlines including Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried 6.6 million passengers in February – 2 percent more than in the prior-year period. Compared to the previous year, the available seat kilometres increased by 6.7 percent in February. The sales volume was up by 7 percent over the same period, with an increasing seat load factor by 0.2 percentage points to 76.3 percent.

Strong growth continues at Vienna and Zurich hubs

In February, the strongest passenger growth of the network airlines was recorded at the Vienna and Zurich hub with 8.0 percent in Vienna and 4.8 percent in Zurich. The number of passengers increased by 0.9 percent in Frankfurt, in Munich they decreased by 1.3 percent. The underlying offer also increased to varying degrees: in Vienna by 11.6 percent, in Munich by 9.8 percent, in Zurich by 8.9 percent and in Frankfurt by 3.5 percent.

Lufthansa German Airlines transported 4.5 million passengers in February, a 0.3 percent increase compared to the same month last year. A 5.4 percent increase in seat kilometres corresponds to a 5.4 percent increase in sales. The seat load factor remained unchanged year-on-year at 75.9 per cent.

Eurowings with strong supply and sales

Eurowings (including Brussels Airlines) carried around 2.3 million passengers in February. Among this total, 2.1 million passengers were on short-haul flights and 243,000 flew on long-haul flights. This corresponds to an increase of 0.6 percent on short-haul routes and 11.4 percent on long-haul routes compared with the previous year. February capacity was 8.5 percent above its prior-year level, while its sales volume was up 8.2 percent, resulting in a decrease of seat load factor by 0.2 percentage points to 77.4 percent.

In February, the number of seat-kilometres offered on short-haul routes was increased by 4.8 per cent, while the number of seat-kilometres sold rose by 5.0 per cent over the same period. As a result, the seat load factor on these flights was 0.1 percentage points higher than the 74.2 percent recorded in February 2018. On long-haul flights, the seat load factor fell by 1.1 percentage points to 82.3 per cent over the same period. The 14.4 per cent increase in capacity was offset by a 12.9 per cent increase in sales.