SWISS reports substantial rise in first-half passenger numbers

SWISS carried 7 367 099 passengers in the first six months of 2011, a substantial 10.9% increase on the same period last year (2010: 6 643 521). The positive business trend is attributable partly to the numerous flight cancellations in the prior-year period owing to the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud; but SWISS has also posted year-on-year increases in all its monthly passenger numbers to date in 2011.

While the 79.1% seat load factor on SWISS’s European network for the first-half period marked a 1.1-percentage-point improvement on January-to-June 2010, the 83.7% seat load factor recorded for intercontinental services was a slight 1.3-percentage-point decline. Systemwide seat load factor remained broadly stable, slipping 0.5 percentage points to 79.6%. SWISS performed 74 613 flights in the first half of 2011, some 8.4% more than in the prior-year period (2010: 68 833).

Passenger volumes (in revenue passenger-kilometres) were up 10.5% on intercontinental services and as much as 13.1% on SWISS’s European network. Total capacity (in available seat-kilometres) was increased, by 11.4% in Europe and by 12.3% on intercontinental routes.

The airfreight business of Swiss WorldCargo suffered a 2.5-percentage-point decline in its cargo load factor (by volume) for the period, from the 81.8% of January-to-June 2010 to 79.3%.

In the month ofJune, SWISS carried 1 312 439 passengers, a 7.3% improvement on the prior-year period (2010: 1 223 640). Systemwide seat load factor remained broadly stable at 84.5% (2010: 84.6%). European seat load factor was raised 2.0 percentage points to 77.6%, while intercontinental seat load factor slipped 0.9 percentage points to 88.2% (2010: 89.1%). Swiss WorldCargo posted a cargo load factor (by volume) of 75.5%, a 4.5-percentage-point decline (2010: 80.0%).