Traffic Results for January to July 2014: Higher Passenger Volume at Austrian Airlines

ˇ January-July 2014: Capacity utilization up 1.5 percentage points
ˇ Expansion to North America leads to increase in the number of passengers carried on long-haul flights
ˇ July 2014: Fewer flights and thus fewer passengers to the crisis areas of Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East

The Austrian Airlines Group carried about 6.5 million passengers in the period January to July 2014, corresponding to a rise of 1.1 percent from the prior-year level. This increase can be particularly attributed to the additional Boeing 777 which has been in operation since the middle of June 2014 and the strong expansion of flight service to North America. Since July 2, 2014 Austrian Airlines has been offering flights to Newark as a new destination in its route network. Moreover, since July 1, 2014 the airline has been operating a larger aircraft on its daily flights to Washington, namely a Boeing 777 instead of a Boeing 767. Furthermore, in May 2014 the number of flights to Chicago was increased from five to seven per week. On balance, capacity was raised by 3.9 percent. Revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) were up by 6 percent. As a result, capacity utilization (passenger load factor) in the period January to July 2014 increased by 1.5 percentage points from the previous year to 78.5 percent.

In the month of July 2014, more than 1.1 million passengers flew with Austrian Airlines. The drop of 0.5 percent year-on-year is mainly due to the crisis areas of Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East. Capacity to Russia was successively reduced since May in response to the decline in demand, whereas at the beginning of July capacity also had to be further adjusted on flight service to the Ukraine. Due to the heighted security situation and the large-scale closure of airspace, flight services to Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk had to be cancelled in the period July 18 – August 13, 2014. Two destinations in the Middle East were also missing in the airline’s route network compared to the previous year: flight service to Tripoli was temporarily suspended starting on March 21, 2014, and to Baghdad as of January 31, 2014. Flights to Tel Aviv were also cancelled for several days in July. On balance, capacity was expanded by 8.3 percent due to the additional Boeing 777 and the airline’s expansion to North America. Revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) were up by 8.1 percent. As a consequence, capacity utilization fell slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 83.2 percent.

“We had to strongly adjust our offering in July and cancel flights to the crisis areas of Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East”, explains Karsten Benz, Chief Commercial Officer of Austrian Airlines. “At the same time, we strongly expanded our flight service to North America and added a new destination, Newark, to our route network. The increasing number of passengers on intercontinental flights shows that we are on the right track with our strategy”.

Europe
In July 2014, Austrian Airlines carried about 928,100 passengers in Europe, a decrease of 2.8 from the previous year. The main reason is the cancellation of flights to Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk. The passenger load factor fell by 1.0 percentage points to 80.6 percent.

In the period January to July 2014, about 5.5 million passengers flew with Austrian Airlines in Europe, corresponding to the same level as in the comparable period of 2013. The passenger load factor was up 0.4 percentage points to 76.0 percent.

Intercontinental
In July 2014, Austrian Airlines carried a total of about 175,300 passengers on its intercontinental flights or 13.9 percent more passengers than in July of 2013. The passenger load factor rose by 0.3 percentage points to 85.4 percent.

In the period January to July 2014, more than 981,500 passengers were carried on intercontinental flights operated by Austrian Airlines. This represents a rise of 7.8 percent year-on-year. The passenger load factor was up by 2.4 percentage points to 80.7 percent.