Lufthansa Group increases seat load factor by 2.7 percentage points

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  • Group Airlines welcomed around 11.6 million passengers on board and therefore 18.7 percent more than one year before
  • Currency adjusted pricing environment was positive

The airlines of the Lufthansa Group welcomed around 11.6 million passengers in May 2017. This shows an increase of 18.7% compared to the previous year’s month. The available seat kilometers were up 12.2% over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 16.2%. The seat load factor improved accordingly, rising 2.7 percentage points to 79%, compared to May 2016.

The currency adjusted pricing environment in May was positive.

Cargo capacity increased 0.8% year-on-year, while cargo sales were up 7.2% in revenue ton-kilometer terms. As a result, the Cargo load factor showed a corresponding improvement, rising 4 percentage points in the month.

Hub Airlines

The Network Airlines Lufthansa German Airlines, Swiss and Austrian Airlines carried 8.6 million passengers in May, 6.7% more than in the prior-year period. Compared to the previous year, the available seat kilometers increased by 2.2% in May. The sales volume was up 6.9% over the same period, raising seat load factor by 3.5 percentage points to 79.4%.

Lufthansa German Airlines transported 5.9 million passengers in May, a 6.7% increase compared to the same month last year. A 0.5% increase in seat kilometers in May was a 6.4% increase in sales. Furthermore, the seat load factor was up to 80.2%, therefore 4.5 percentage points above the prior-year level.

Point-to-Point Airlines

The Lufthansa Group’s Point-to-Point Airlines – Eurowings (including Germanwings) and Brussels Airlines – carried around 3 million passengers in May. Among this total, 2.8 million passengers were on short-haul flights and 0.2 million flew long-haul. This amounts to an increase of 74.2% in comparison to the previous year. May capacity was 116.3% above its prior-year level, while its sales volume was up 107.4%, resulting in 3.3 percentage points lower seat load factor.

On short-haul services the Point-to-Point Airlines raised capacity 76.3% and increased sales volume by 70.7%, resulting in a 2.5 percentage points decrease in seat load factor, compared to May 2016. The seat load factor for the long-haul services decreased 10.3 percentage points to 77.8% during the same period, following a 389.7% increase in capacity and a 332.6% rise in sales volume, compared to the previous year.