• European routes in August 2015: number of passengers up 1.3 percent
• Capacity utilization rises to 86.8 percent
In August 2015, Austrian Airlines carried more than 1.1 million passengers, corresponding to a year-on-year increase of 1.9 percent. This rise resulted from growth in both the airline’s European and intercontinental flight traffic. The flight offering measured in available seat kilometers (ASK) rose by 2.4 percent, whereas revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) were even up by 3.4 percent. Capacity utilization (passenger load factor) of the flights in August 2015 amounted to 86.8 percent, comprising an increase of 0.8 percentage points.
In the period January to August 2015, Austrian Airlines carried approximately 7.3 million passengers, a decline of 4.4 percent as planned. The consolidation strategy of Austrian Airlines in the first half-year is also reflected in the airline’s indicators. European flight traffic is down due to the weak business in Eastern Europe, which is related to the situation in Russia and the Ukraine. In contrast, growth is generated in intercontinental flight traffic in spite of the crisis in the Middle East. The flight offering measured by ASK rose by 0.5 percent, whereas RPK fell by 1.1 percent. For this reason, cumulative capacity utilization declined as expected by 1.3 percentage points to 78.3 percent.
