Passenger volume from January to August increases on figure for previous year
Total passenger load factor for August at 79.7 %

Contrary to other industry reports on the traffic trend, the Austrian Airlines Group recorded a passenger volume of 926,096 in August, a 1.3 % increase to the comparable period of the previous year. Thanks to intense marketing activities, the Austrian Airlines Group was able to counter the generally negative trend in global air travel and win market share. Revenue passenger kilometers in August increased by 5.4 %, and the total passenger load factor rose by a further 0.3 percentage points to reach 79.7 % compared to the same period the previous year.

While growth in passenger kilometers in the holiday flight sector stood at 57.0 %, the company recorded a slight reduction of -7.3 % in scheduled traffic. The load factor on scheduled services fell by 1.4 percentage points to 75.9 % in August 2002. For the period from January to August 2002 inclusive, however, this remains with 70,7 %, 0.1 percentage points higher than the comparable figure the previous year.

In the eight-month period from January to August 2002, the total transportation volume of almost 6 million passengers was 0.8 % above the comparable figure for the previous year. It needs to be stressed that, when measured in available seat kilometers, the Austrian Airlines Group reduced its total production by 3.9 % due to strict capacity management, while revenue passenger kilometers fell by only 2.2 %. As a result, it was possible to increase the total load factor by a further 1.3 percentage points to a level of 73.4 %. The total number of flights made was 100,417, up by 1.3 % on the comparable period the previous year.

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