Traffic results of Austrian Airlines for September 2015: upward trend in passenger volume continues

• 2.2% increase in September, 2.4% rise in the third quarter of 2015
• Capacity utilization of aircraft close to 85 percent in the summer season
• New since September 10, 2015: daily flight service to Manchester

In September 2015, Austrian Airlines carried more than 1.1 million passengers, corresponding to a year-on-year increase of 2.2 percent. This rise resulted from growth in the airline’s European flight traffic (+ 3.1%), featuring two new destinations within the route network compared to September of 2014, namely Manchester and Odessa. The flight offering measured in available seat kilometers (ASK) was virtually stable, falling slightly by 0.1%, whereas revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) were up by 0.1 percent. Capacity utilization (passenger load factor) of the flights in September 2015 amounted to 82.0 percent, comprising an increase of 0.2 percentage points.

In the third quarter of the year comprising the summer season, Austria’s flag carrier reported a gratifying rise in passenger volume of 2.4 percent. The airline carried 3.4 million passengers in the period July to September 2015 (Q3 2014: 3.3 million). Capacity utilization was at a level of 84.8%, up one percentage point from the prior-year quarter.

In the period January to September 2015, Austrian Airlines carried approximately 8.4 million passengers. The year-on-year decline of 3.5 percent reflects the related targeted management of capacities: European flight service was reduced due to the weak business in Eastern Europe, which is related to the situation in Russia and the Ukraine. In contrast, growth was generated in intercontinental flight traffic to the Middle East in spite of the prevailing crisis. The flight offering as measured by ASK rose by 0.4 percent, whereas RPK fell by 1.0 percent. For this reason, cumulative capacity utilization declined as expected by 1.1 percentage points to 78.8 percent.