Iberia´s load, up to 82.2 per cent in 2010

Madrid, 13 of January of 2011

In 2010, load factor reached 82.2 per cent, 2.4 points higher than 2009, with an increase of 3.3 per cent in traffic and a slight rise in capacity (0.2 per cent).

In December, revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) grew by 3.7 per cent, with a 4.5 per cent increase in capacity – measured in available seat kilometres (ASK) -; consequently, load factor was 78.4 per cent, 0.6 points lower than in 2009. Traffic was negatively affected by both the closing of the Spanish air space as a consequence of the air traffic controllers strike (carried out on the 3rd and 4th of December) and the snow in Europe through the last third of the month, leading to the cancellation of many flights.

Long haul traffic went up 9.7 per cent, capacity increased by 12.9 per cent and the load factor dropped by 2.4 points, down to 82.7 per cent. In Latin America ASK rose by 15.8 per cent, traffic improved by 12.2 per cent and the load factor was 82.7 per cent, 2.6 points lower than in the previous year. In the North Atlantic routes, load factor decreased by 2 points (to 81.9 per cent), with a 1.7 per cent drop in traffic and a 0.7 per cent improvement in capacity.

European flights were the most affected by cancellations. Thus, the load factor dropped by 1 point, to 68.5 per cent, with decreases of 9.9 per cent and 8.6 per cent in traffic and capacity, respectively. Considering only European flights to and from Madrid, RPK and ASK fell by 10.3 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, and load factor went down 1 point. In Africa and the Middle East load factor improved by 1.6 points, to 75.2 per cent, as RPK grew by 2 per cent and capacity remained stable in comparison with the previous year.

The domestic load factor improved by 2.4 points, reaching 69.1 per cent, with decreases of 13.6 per cent in capacity and 10.5 per cent in traffic. In flights between Barcelona and Madrid load factor improved by 5.4 points, as capacity and traffic fell by 17.5 per cent and 10.1 per cent, respectively.