Swiss posts slight rise in February passenger numbers

Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. transported 1,084,075 passengers in February, a slight 0.4% increase on the same month last year. A total of 10,340 flights were operated systemwide, 2.4% fewer than in February 2014.

Of these, 8,935 were on the European network (down 3.4%) and 1,405 (up 5.0%) were on intercontinental routes. Passenger volume growth does not necessarily translate into higher revenues, however, since yields remain under sizeable pressure.

Swiss offered 1.9% more capacity year-on-year in February 2015 in available seat-kilometre (ASK) terms. Total traffic volume for the month, measured in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPKs), was raised 1.1%. Systemwide seat load factor amounted to 76.9%, a decline of 0.6 percentage points. Seat load factor for the European network improved 1.5 percentage points to 71.4%, while intercontinental seat load factor declined 1.7 percentage points to 79.2%.

The airfreight business of Swiss WorldCargo achieved a cargo load factor (by volume) of 82.0% for February, a 0.3-percentage-point decline from the same month last year. Total cargo sales for the month were up 4.3% in revenue tonne-kilometre terms.