- Özgür Töre
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) excluding Edelweiss transported 18,781,440 passengers in 2019, a 4.7% increase in the previous (record) year.
A total of 150,957 flights were operated systemwide, 4.1% more than in 2018. Of these, 132,561 (up 4.6%) were performed within Europe and 18,396 (up 0.5%) were on intercontinental routes.
Total passenger capacity for the year, measured in available seat-kilometres (ASK), showed a 1.8% increase in 2018, while total traffic volume, measured in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPK), was up 2.6%. On its European network, SWISS raised its ASK capacity by 5.0% and saw RPK traffic volume rise by 5.4%; on intercontinental routes ASK capacity was increased 0.5% while RPK traffic volume rose 1.5%. Systemwide seat load factor for 2019 amounted to 84.0%, a year-on-year improvement of 0.6 percentage points. Seat load factor for SWISS’s European services was raised 0.3 percentage points to 78.0%, while seat load factor for the intercontinental network was increased 0.9 percentage points to 86.6%.
Swiss WorldCargo, SWISS’s airfreight division, reports a cargo load factor (by volume) of 74.8% for 2019, a 4.1-percentage-point decline from its prior-year level. Total traffic volume, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTK), was 10.7% down on the previous year.
In December 2019 SWISS transported 1,430,184 passengers, a 6.2% increase in the same month of the previous year. A total of 11,571 flights were operated in the month, 0.8% fewer than in December 2018. December passenger capacity was increased by 0.8% in ASK terms, while RPK traffic volume for the month was up 3.7%. Systemwide seat load factor for December improved accordingly, rising 2.3 percentage points to 82.9%.
SWISS will publish its 2019 financial results on 19 March 2020.
