Austrian Airlines carried 893,600 passengers in March 2012. In spite of the crisis in the Middle East and with two aircraft less in their fleet, Austrian Airlines has had a passenger increase of 12 percent in comparison to March last year. The average passenger load factor, at 73.6 percent, was 3.5 percentage points over the figure for the same month last year. The capacity measured in available seat kilometres (ASK) rose by 9.4 percent. The figure for revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) rose by 14.9 percent.

In the period from January to March 2012, the number of passengers carried rose by 10.1 percent compared to previous year’s figure: 2,349,900 passengers flew with Austrian Airlines. This is an all–time–record in passenger numbers. The load factor rose by 2.1 percentage points to 70.6 percent. The capacity measured in available seat kilometres (ASK) rose by 6.4 percent. The figure for revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) rose by 9.8 percent.

Austrian Airlines CEO Jaan Albrecht: “The strong growth in passenger numbers shows clearly that we are on track. Despite the difficult times, our employees are proving to be in top form. Unfortunately, this is also true for the fees and the costs for kerosene: We had to carry additional 28 million Euro out of these titles in the first quarter. We therefore must continue to focus on our company reform program.”

Europe

In March 2012, around 724,000 passengers flew with Austrian Airlines within Europe. This is 11.2 percent more passengers than last year. The load factor grew by 1.4 percentage points to 68.9 percent. Austrian Airlines increased the ASK by 8.4 percent, the RPK rose by 10.7 percent.

In the period from January to March 2012, around 1.9 million passengers flew with Austrian Airlines within Europe. This is 11.5 percent more than last year.

The load factor rose by 2.5 percentage points to 66.3 percent. The figure for ASK rose by 7.6 percent, and the one for RPK by 11.8 percent.

Intercontinental

In March 2012, the number of passengers carried on intercontinental flights rose by 10.9 percent to 137.900. The load factor, which is 77.5 percent, was 5.6 percentage points over the figure of the previous year. Austrian Airlines increased its ASK by 8.1 percent. The figure for RPK rose by 16.5 percent.

Austrian Airlines carried more than 366,700 passengers in the period from January to March 2012, or 2.8 percent more than last year despite the crisis in the Middle East. The load factor rose by 2.1 percentage points to 74 percent. Austrian Airlines increased its ASK by 4.4 percent. The figure for RPK rose by 7.5 percent.

Charter

In March 2012, passenger volume stood at 31,700 which is 43.9 percent up the previous year. The load factor fell slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 74.8 percent. Austrian Airlines increased the ASK by 42.4 percent. The figure for RPK rose by 42 percent.

In the period from January to March 2012, Austrian Airlines carried 82,400 passengers in the Charter segment. This figure is 14.2 percent more than last year. The load factor fell by 0.8 percentage points to 73.9 percent. The figure for ASK rose by 22.2 percent, while the one for RPK rose by 20.8 percent.