Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) carried a total of 7,772,447 passengers in the first six months of 2013, a 0.9 percent increase on the 7,704,275 of the same period last year.
Total flights performed declined 3.1 percent, from 75,269 to 72,899 flights. Of these, 64,315 were to destinations within Europe (down 3.8 percent), while 8,584 were on intercontinental routes (up 1.7 percent).
First-half system-wide seat load factor amounted to 82.6 percent, a further 1.3-percentage-point improvement on the 81.3 percent of the prior-year period.
SWISS offered 2.9 percent more available-seat-kilometer (ASK) capacity system-wide in the first six months of 2013 than it had for the same period last year.
Total first-half traffic volume, measured in revenue passenger-kilometers (RPKs), was a 4.5 percent improvement on the prior-year period. SWISS’s European network saw its ASK capacity reduced by 2.3 percent while RPK volume increased 0.6 percent; and on the SWISS intercontinental network ASK capacity was increased 5.5 percent while RPK volume rose 6.2 percent.
The first-half traffic results for the airfreight business of Swiss WorldCargo showed only slight changes from the prior-year period. Cargo load factor (by volume) stood at 78.6 percent, a 0.7-percentage-point decline from the 79.3 percent of January-to-June 2012.
According to SWISS, the higher load do not necessarily translate to higher earnings, though. Yields remain under considerable pricing pressure.
Total cargo sales, by contrast, were up 2.3 percent in revenue-tonne-kilometer terms.
SWISS’s traffic results for the month of June 2013 show a 2.8 percent increase in total passenger numbers to 1,412,234 passengers (2012: 1,374,110). The system-wide seat load factor of 87.7 percent was also a 0.8-percentage-point improvement on the same month last year (2012: 86.9 percent).
Seat load factor for European services was 1.7 percentage points higher, while intercontinental seat load factor was up 0.2 percentage points. Swiss WorldCargo posted a cargo load factor (by volume) of 77.8 percent, a 0.8-percentage-point decline on the 78.6 percent of June 2012.
