The aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the United States continues to have an adverse effect on the performance of the airlines in the Lufthansa Group, and this is reflected in the traffic figures for the first quarter of 2002. Passenger number and freight volume in the first three months of the year remained below the prior-year level. However, as a result of network optimisation, Lufthansa was able to report a significant improvement in capacity utilisation. 

From January to March, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group carried 9.7 million passengers, 11.4 per cent fewer than in the first quarter of 2001. However, the capacity utilisation of passenger aircraft was excellent, reaching the record level of 73.1 per cent - an increase of 2.8 percentage points. This is attributable to the 12.7 per cent drop in capacity, as against a decline in sales of 9.1 per cent.
In the first three months of this year, Lufthansa Cargo transported a total of 395,534 tonnes of freight and mail, 6.7 per cent less than during the prior-year period. Capacity was scaled back, with the result that the cargo load factor rose by 2.6 percentage points to reach the high level of 68.4 per cent.

Overall, the Lufthansa Group (Passenger Business and Freight) boosted the capacity utilisation of its aircraft to the record level of 71.0 per cent, which corresponds to an increase of 2.6 percentage points.

The Lufthansa Group’s first-quarter results for 2002 will be published on May 15, 2002 and will be available in English and German on the Internet at www.lufthansa-financials.com.

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