The month of May for Austrian Airlines was characterised by stable passenger growth of 5.6% in the short- and medium-haul segment compared to the previous year. Revenue passenger kilometers on these scheduled services (RPK) increased by 8.8% compared to 2006, while scheduled availability (ASK) grew by 7.7%. The resultant passenger load factor stood at 66.8%, or 0.7 percentage points above the year before.

Cumulatively, some 3.13 million scheduled passengers were carried in the short- and medium-haul segment in the first five months of 2007, some 8.7% more than in the comparable period in 2006. While available seat kilometers (ASK) increased by 9.6%, the company succeeded in raising the number of revenue passenger kilometers on scheduled services (RPK) at the faster rate of 11.7%. The passenger load factor in this segment was 64.7%, or 1.2 percentage points above the 2006 figure.

Long-haul passenger load factor significantly up on last year
In May the targeted reduced long-haul offer (ASK: -39.3% compared to 2006) had been marketed more intensively (RPK: -32.5% compared to 2006) which led to a remarkable improvement of the resultant passenger load factor of 7.9 percentage points, reaching 79.1%.

From January to May, the Austrian Airlines Group carried around 554,800 scheduled passengers in the long-haul segment, a decrease of 8.3% compared to the same period in 2006 due to the long-haul restructuring. Where there was a 19.8% reduction in available seat kilometers (ASK) on scheduled services, revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) fell by just 15.6%. The passenger load factor in the long-haul segment reached 81.2%, or 4.1 percentage points above the previous year.

 

Scheduled services continue on upward trend overall
The Austrian Airlines Group welcomed around 817,200 passengers onto its scheduled services overall in May 2007, an increase of 1.3% compared to the figure for May 2006. Scheduled services, which have been reduced as planned (ASK: -21.0%), had been marketed better (RPK:  -17.1%) and resulted in an important improvement of the passenger load factor at 72.6%, which was 3.3 percentage points above the comparable figure for last year.

Cumulatively, the traffic result for the first five months of 2007, measured in revenue passenger kilometers on scheduled services (RPK), was 6.5% below the comparable figure for the previous year, while scheduled availability (ASK) was reduced by 8.7% compared to 2006. The resultant passenger load factor on scheduled services, at 73.7%, was 1.7 percentage points above the previous year’s figure. With almost 3.7 million passengers carried on scheduled services, growth stood at 5.8%.

Overall view
The reduction in charter was caused by structural effects (Slovak Airlines included in the comparison figures for 2006) and targeted reductions in capacity in long-haul designed to strengthen profitability. The load factor improved in this segment.

Overall, the Austrian Airlines Group carried around 4.05 million passengers on its scheduled and charter services from January to May 2007, so achieving an increase of 3.3% compared to 2006.
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