SWISS posts improved February 2013 load factors

Swiss International Air Lines carried 1,106,498 passengers in February 2013 – a decline of 2.7% on the 1,137,750 of the prior-year period. The 11,080 flights operated for the month systemwide were also 6.6% down on February 2012. Of these, 9,800 were on SWISS’s European network (down 7.0%) and 1,280 were on intercontinental routes (a 3.8% decline). Year-on-year trends are also affected by February 2012 having consisted of 29 days, compared to the 28 days of February 2013.

Total February production in available-seat-kilometre (ASK) terms was 1.2% lower than for the prior-year period. Total traffic volume in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPKs) was raised 0.6%. Systemwide seat load factor improved accordingly from the 75.7% of February 2012 to 77.1%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points. Seat load factor for European services rose 2.5 percentage points to 71.0%, while seat load factor on intercontinental routes increased 0.5 percentage points to 80.0%.

Swiss WorldCargo posted a cargo load factor (by volume) of 82.7% for the month, a 1.6- percentage-point improvement on the 81.1% of February 2012. Total cargo sales were up 1.3% in revenue-tonne-kilometre terms.

SWISS will present its 2012 financial results on Thursday 14 March.