Lufthansa Group reaches all-time high with 130 million passengers in 2017

• Carrier continue to set new records for pax numbers, load factors

Lufthansa Group welcomed around 130 million passengers on board their aircraft in 2017 and set with this number a new passenger record. The seat load factor on the 1.1 million flights last year remained on a record course of 80.9 percent.

In December 2017, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group welcomed around 9.3 million passengers.

This shows an increase of 19.9 per cent compared to the previous year’s month. The available seat kilometers were up 14.2 per cent over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 15.9 per cent.

 The seat load factor improved accordingly, rising 1.1 percentage points compared to December 2016 to 78.9 per cent.

.Cargo capacity increased 6.6 per cent year-on-year, while cargo sales were up 5.8 per cent in revenue ton-kilometer terms.

As a result, the Cargo load factor decreased 0.5 percentage points in December. Overall, the cargo capacity in 2017 was 3.3 per cent higher than in the previous year.

At the same time, cargo sales in this period increased by 7.4 per cent, resulting in a load factor of 2.7 higher percentage points than in 2016.

Network Airlines

The Network Airlines Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried seven million passengers in December, 7.4 per cent more than in the prior-year period.

Compared to the previous year, the available seat kilometers increased by 4.5 per cent in December. The sales volume was up 5.8 per cent over the same period, raising seat load factor by 1 percentage points to 78.7 per cent. In 2017, the Network Airlines carried 97.4 million passengers and therefore 6.8% more than in the previous year. During this period, the seat load factor for Network Airlines increased by 2.1 percentage points to 81.1 per cent.

Lufthansa German Airlines transported 4.7 million passengers in December, a 7.3 per cent increase compared to the same month last year. A 4.2 per cent increase in seat kilometers in December corresponds to a 5.1 per cent increase in sales.

Furthermore, the seat load factor was up to 79.2 per cent, therefore 0.7 percentage points above the prior-year’s level. In 2017, Lufthansa German Airlines carried 66.2 million passengers, 6.1 per cent more than in the previous year. At 81.6 per cent, the seat load factor was 2.5 percentage points higher than in 2016.

Point-to-Point Airlines

The Lufthansa Group’s Point-to-Point Airlines – Eurowings (including Germanwings) and Brussels Airlines – carried around 2.4 million passengers in December. Among this total, 2.1 million passengers were on short-haul flights and 251,000 flew long-haul.

This amounts to an increase of 80.3 per cent in comparison to the previous year. December capacity was 107.2 per cent above its prior-year level, while its sales volume was up 113 per cent, resulting in an increased seat load factor by 2.2 percentage points of 79.4 per cent.

On short-haul services the Point-to-Point Airlines raised capacity 77.7 per cent and increased sales volume by 90.1%, resulting in a 5.0 percentage point increase in seat load factor of 77.0 per cent, compared to December 2016. The seat load factor for the long-haul services decreased 5.7 percentage points to 82.7 per cent during the same period, following a 170.1 per cent increase in capacity and a 152.8 per cent rise in sales volume, compared to the previous year.

The Point-to-Point Airlines carried a total of 32.6 million passengers in 2017, 77.0 per cent more than in the previous year. At 79.9 per cent, the seat load factor was 0.3 percentage points higher than in 2016.

Wole Shadare