In September 2018, the Lufthansa Group airlines welcomed around 13.7 million passengers. This shows an increase of 8.8 percent compared to the previous year’s month.
The available seat kilometres were up 7.3 percent over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 8.3 percent. In addition as compared to September 2017, the seat load factor increased by 0.8 percentage points to 84.5 percent.
Cargo capacity increased by 6.2 percent year-on-year, while cargo sales decreased by 1.6 percent in revenue tonne-kilometre terms. As a result, the Cargo load factor showed a corresponding reduction, decreasing by 5.0 percentage points to 63.4 percent.
In total, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group carried around 108.5 million passengers in the first nine months of 2018 – a new record for this period. The seat load factor of 82.0 percent also marks an unprecedented figure for the first three quarters of the year.
Network Airlines with around 10 million passengers
The Network Airlines including Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried 9.8 million passengers in September – 6.8 percent more than in the prior-year period. Compared to the previous year, the available seat kilometres increased by 4.7 percent in September. The sales volume was up by 5.5 percent over the same period, with an increasing seat load factor by 0.6 percentage points to 84.3 percent.
Strong growth continues at Munich and Zurich hubs
In September, the strongest passenger growth of the network airlines was recorded at the Munich and Zurich hub with 9.5 percent (Munich) and 9.9 percent (Zurich). The number of passengers increased by 6.3 percent in Vienna and 3.7 percent in Frankfurt. The underlying offer also increased to varying degrees: in Munich by 12.0 percent, in Zurich by 4.8 percent, in Vienna by 7.2 percent and in Frankfurt by 1.2 percent.
Lufthansa German Airlines transported 6.6 million passengers in September, a 6.0 percent increase compared to the same month last year. A 4.3 percent increase in seat kilometres in September corresponds to a 3.6 percent increase in sales. Furthermore, the seat load factor was 84.1 percent, corresponding 0.5 percentage points below last year’s level.
Eurowings increases capacity and sales
Eurowings (including Brussels Airlines) carried around 3.8 million passengers in September. Among this total, 3.5 million passengers were on short-haul flights and 288,000 flew on long-haul flights. This amounts to an increase of 14.4 percent in comparison to the previous year. September capacity was 19.7 percent above its prior-year level, while its sales volume was up 21.3 percent, resulting in an increase of seat load factor by 1.1 percentage points to 85.3 percent.
On short-haul services the airlines raised capacity by 16.8 percent and increased sales volume by 18.5 percent, resulting in a 1.7 percentage points increased seat load factor of 86.8 percent, compared to September 2017. The seat load factor for the long-haul services increased by 1.1 percentage points to 82.1 percent during the same period, following a 26.3 percent increase in capacity and a 28.1 percent rise in sales volume, compared to the previous year.
