Group boosts the load factor of its aircraft to nearly 80 per cent and sells more passenger-kilometres on the market in 2013 than ever before
Last year, the Lufthansa Group set a new record for sales in passenger traffic. Traffic in the passenger business (measured in revenue passenger-kilometres) came to more than 209 billion in 2013. This represents an increase of 2.3 per cent compared with the previous year. The Group also beat its previous record of more than 207 billion passenger-kilometres set in 2011. The main reasons for this positive performance were the use of larger aircraft and better overall load factors for flights. In 2013, the Lufthansa Group airlines increased this figure year on year by one percentage point to a high 79.8 per cent – the highest in Europe. Last year Lufthansa, Germanwings, Swiss and Austrian Airlines carried more than 104 million passengers, an increase of one per cent on the previous year. Overall capacity (measured in seat-kilometres) was one per cent higher than in 2012, the Lufthansa Group reduced the number of flights by 3.7 per cent.

Some 76 million passengers flew with Lufthansa and Germanwings last year – a rise of 1.4 per cent. The two airlines added one per cent to capacity and lifted sales disproportionately by 2.3 per cent. Lufthansa and Germanwings also edged up the load factor for their flights by one percentage point to 79.1 per cent. Swiss carried 17 million passengers last year, 0.5 per cent more than in 2012. Capacity was increased by 2.7 per cent and sales by 3.8 per cent. The load factor climbed accordingly by 0.9 percentage points to a high 83.3 per cent. Roughly eleven million passengers flew with Austrian Airlines between January and December, 1.6 per cent fewer than the year before. The airline reduced capacity by 2.7 per cent and limited the fall in sales to 1.4 per cent. The load factor edged up by 1.1 percentage points to 78.6 per cent.

Capacity utilisation in the freight business was good last year, with the aircraft at Lufthansa Cargo reporting a cargo load factor of 69.9 per cent (+0.2 percentage points) despite sluggish demand on global freight markets. The company transported 1.7 million tonnes of freight and mail, one per cent down on last year. Capacity (in cargo tonne-kilometres) was cut slightly by 0.3 per cent, while sales remained on par with the previous year. In the Logistics segment, the Group carried a total of 1.9 million tonnes of freight and mail (-0.9 per cent). Across the Group, capacity was one per cent higher than in the previous year and sales were 0.4 per cent higher. In the Group’s freight business, the load factor came to 69.1 per cent overall (-0.3 percentage points).