SWISS carries more passengers in the first nine months

Geneva, October 13, 2014 (STAT):-Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) transported 12,311,965 passengers in the first nine months of 2014, a 0.9% increase on the 12,198,176 of the same period last year. The airline also operated 1.0% fewer flights in the period: 109,740, compared to 110,831 a year ago. Of these, 96,175 flights were to points within Europe (down 1.5%) while 13,565 were to intercontinental destinations (up 2.9%).

SWISS offered 2.0% more systemwide capacity in the first nine months of the year in available seat-kilometre (ASK) terms. Total traffic volume, measured in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPKs), rose 1.5% over the same period. Nine-month systemwide seat load factor stood at 84.0%, a 0.4-percentage-point decline from the 84.4% of the prior-year period.

European services saw a 1.6% increase in ASK capacity and a 2.1% rise in RPK traffic volumes. Seat load factor improved accordingly, rising 0.4 percentage points. On the intercontinental network ASK capacity was raised 2.1% for the period, while RPK volumes increased by 1.2%. Intercontinental seat load factor showed a corresponding decline of 0.8 percentage points.

The airfreight business of Swiss WorldCargo achieved a 5.5% increase for the first nine months of 2014 in cargo tonne-kilometre terms. Cargo load factor (by volume) was also raised 0.9 percentage points, from the 78.0% of 2013 to 78.9%.

In the month of September 2014 SWISS carried 1,457,180 passengers, a 4.4% increase on the same month last year (2013: 1,396,063). Systemwide seat load factor for the month amounted to 87.0%, up 1.3 percentage points. Seat load factor for European services was raised 2.5 percentage points, while seat load factor for the intercontinental network was a 0.6-percentage-point improvement on the prior-year period. Swiss WorldCargo posted a cargo load factor (by volume) for September of 78.2%, a decline of 0.6 percentage points on the same month last year.