Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS)1 set a new record last year for its annual passenger volumes. The airline carried a total of 17,937,391 travellers in 2018, a 6.2% increase on the previous year. SWISS operated 145,002 flights systemwide during the year, up 3.5% on 2017. Of these, 126,697 flights (up 3.9%) were within Europe and 18,305 flights (up 0.6%) were on intercontinental routes.
Total annual passenger capacity, measured in available seat-kilometres (ASK), was increased by 4.1%, while total annual traffic volume, expressed in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPK), rose 5.4%. ASK capacity and RPK volumes for Europe were up 5.9% and 6.1% respectively, while intercontinental services saw a 3.4% increase in ASK capacity and a 5.1% rise in RPK volumes.
Systemwide seat load factor for the year amounted to 83.4%, a one-percentage-point improvement on 2017. Seat load factor for European services was raised 0.2 percentage points to 77.7%, while seat load factor for the intercontinental network was improved 1.4 percentage points to 85.7%.
Swiss WorldCargo reported a cargo load factor (by volume) of 78.9% for the year, a 1.2-percentage-point decline from its 2017 level. Total cargo sales were up 0.8%, however, in revenue tonne-kilometre terms.
In December 2018 SWISS transported 1,346,380 passengers, a 4.5% increase on the prior-year period. A total of 11,664 flights were operated for the month, up 8.2% on December 2017.
December ASK capacity was raised 5.4% from its prior-year level, while December RPK traffic volume was increased by 6.0%. Systemwide seat load factor for the month improved accordingly, rising 0.5 percentage points to 80.6%.
SWISS will announce its annual financial results for 2018 on 14 March 2019.
1 excluding Edelweiss Air
- Zurich Airport 10-JAN-2019