Eurowings Leads Lufthansa Group Higher

Lufthansa Group saw a 14 percent increase in passenger numbers for March as it reported strong monthly and first quarter traffic figures.

The group carried 9.59 million passengers in the month and 25.23 million in the quarter to end March. The quarterly total was a 13 percent improvement on the first quarter of 2016.

Passenger traffic in RSK (revenue seat km) terms was up 11 percent in March on an ASK (available seat km) capacity increase of 9.9 percent. Load factor came in 0.8 percentage points higher at 77.2 percent.

For the quarter, Lufthansa Group RSK passenger traffic was 11.3 percent higher, ASK capacity was up 9.5 percent, and load factor was 76.1 percent, a 1.2 percentage point increase.

Strong growth at low cost unit Eurowings helped ‘point-to-point airlines’, which includes Germanwings and Brussels Airlines, fly 5.55 million passengers in the quarter, a 68 percent jump on 2016.

RSK traffic more than doubled, rising 112.4 percent, almost matching an ASK capacity increase of 112.5 percent. Load factor eased back 0.1 percentage points to 73.9 percent.

Of the network airlines, Swiss reported the biggest improvement in passenger traffic, with an RSK increase of 10.2 percent. It lifted capacity by 8 percent during the quarter.

Lufthansa saw a 1.9 percent RSK traffic improvement, but Austrian brought in a lower traffic result, down 0.5 percent on 1Q16.

Group cargo capacity rose 3.6 percent in the quarter, with revenue tonne km up 8.3 percent.