- Number of passengers rises by 2.3 percent year-on-year
- Strongest passenger growth again at Zurich hub with 6.8 percent
- Seat load factor increases by 0.1 percentage points to 84.7 percent
- The airlines of the Lufthansa Group carried a total of 111.6 million passengers in the first nine months (+3.1 per cent)
- The seat load factor rose by a total of 0.7 percentage points to 82.8 per cent in the first nine months of the year
In September 2019, the Lufthansa Group airlines welcomed around 14 million passengers. This shows an increase of 2.3 percent compared to the previous year’s month. The available seat kilometres were up 2.2 percent over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 2.4 percent. This results in a seat load factor of 84.7 percent, 0.1 percentage points higher than in the same month last year.
In total, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group carried around 111.6 million passengers in the first nine months of 2019 – a new record for this period. The seat load factor of 82.8 percent also marks an unprecedented figure for the first three quarters of the year.
Cargo capacity increased by 4.1 percent year-on-year, while cargo sales decreased by 3.6 percent in revenue tonnekilometre terms. As a result, the Cargo load factor showed a corresponding reduction, decreasing by 4.7 percentage points to 59.3 percent.
Network Airlines carry more than 10.1 million passengers
The Network Airlines including Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried around 10.1 million passengers in September – 3.0 percent more than in the prior-year period. Compared to the previous year, the available seat kilometres increased by 3.8 percent in September. The sales volume was up by 4.0 percent over the same period. The seat load factor increased by 0.1 percentage points to 84.5 per cent compared with the previous year.
In total, Network Airlines carried around 81.9 million passengers in the first three quarters of 2019, 3.8 percent more than in the same period last year.
Zurich hub again with strongest passenger growth
In September, the strongest passenger growth of the network airlines was recorded at the Zurich hub with 6.8 percent. The number of passengers increased by 4.3 percent in Vienna and 1.7 percent in Munich. In Frankfurt, the number of passengers during this period remained unchanged at the previous year’s level. The underlying offer also increased to varying degrees: in Munich by 11.8 percent, in Zurich by 3.2 percent, in Vienna by 1.0 percent and in Frankfurt by 0.8 percent.
Lufthansa German Airlines transported around 6.7 million passengers in September, a 1.7 percent increase compared to the same month last year. A 4.4 percent increase in seat kilometres in September corresponds to a 4.6 percent increase in sales. Furthermore, the seat load factor was with 84.2 percent 0.2 percentage points higher than in the same month last year. In total, Lufthansa welcomed around 54.6 million passengers on board in the first nine months of 2019, 2.8 per cent more than a year earlier. A 4.1 per cent increase in capacity in the first three quarters was offset by a 5.1 per cent increase in sales, resulting in a seat load factor of 82.6 per cent (+0.8 percentage points).
Eurowings increases capacity utilisation to 85.6 percent
Eurowings (still including Brussels Airlines!) carried around 3.8 million passengers in September – around 3.6 million on short-haul flights and 264,000 on long-haul flights. This amounts to an increase of 0.3 percent in comparison to the previous year. September capacity was 4.3 percent below its prior-year level, while its sales volume decreased by 4.0 percent, resulting in an increase of seat load factor by 0.3 percentage points to 85.6 percent.
On short-haul services, the capacity fell by 0.4 percent and the sales volume by 0.6 percent. This results in a 0.2 percentage point decreased seat load factor of 86.6 percent compared to September 2018. The seat load factor for the long-haul services increased by 1.1 percentage points to 83.2 percent during the same period, following a 12.7 percent decrease in capacity and an 11.5 percent decrease in sales volume, compared to the previous year.
In total, Eurowings (including Brussels Airlines) welcomed around 29.7 million passengers on board in the first nine months of 2019 – 1.4 percent more than in the same period last year. The seat load factor increased by 0.6 percentage points to 82.8 per cent in the first three quarters. During this period, the capacity increased by 0.9 percent and sales by 1.7 percent.
- 11-OCT-2019 News Release
