German aviation group Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DLAKY, DLAKF) said Monday that the group flew 2 percent fewer passengers in the month of April compared to last year. Traffic, or sales, for the group was flat with last year and passenger load factor edged down 0.2 percentage points, while capacity improved 0.2 percentage points.
Lufthansa noted that March saw a higher share of leisure travel and April witnessed a higher share of business travel as the Easter holiday break fell entirely into March this year. According to the company, the pricing developed positively, while it has been down year-on-year in March.
Lufthansa Group reported a 2.0 percent decline in passengers flown in April from the year-ago period to 8.59 million. Passenger numbers declined in Europe and Middle East/Africa, while it rose in America and Asia/Pacific.
During the month, Lufthansa passenger airlines, including Germanwings, reported a 1.4 percent drop in passengers flown, while Austrian Airlines reported a 6.4 percent decline and Swiss Air recorded a 1.4 percent decrease.
Meanwhile, the number of flights the group operated during the month declined 4.0 percent from last year to 85,839.
The group's total traffic in terms of revenue seat-kilometers was 16.82 billion in April, flat with the same period last year. Lufthansa's total capacity, which is measured as available seat-kilometers, edged up 0.2 percent for the month to 21.48 billion. Passenger load factor was down 0.2 percentage points year-over-year to 78.3 percent.
In the German carrier Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, capacity rose 1.6 percent and traffic increased 1.0 percent. Meanwhile, passenger load factor was down 0.5 percentage points from last year. Number of passengers flown was down 1.4 percent from last year.
In the logistics business segment, the Lufthansa Group's transported volume of freight and mail declined 2.0 percent to 138,000 tonnes. However, the group's cargo load factor improved 1.1 percentage points to 69.4 percent.
Lufthansa Airlines cargo's transported volume of freight and mail decreased 1.7 percent to 159,000 tonnes from last year. However, the cargo load factor edged up 0.5 percentage points to 68.9 percent. The airline cut cargo capacity by 1.2 percent, leading to a 0.4 percent decline in sales.
Lufthansa said that on May 7, the former chairman of the executive board and
CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber was appointed chairman of the supervisory board until 2018. He succeeds Jürgen Weber who has been chairman of the supervisory board since 2003.
In Frankfurt's XETRA exchange, the company's shares are trading in Monday's trading session at 15.58, down 0.51 euros or 3.17 percent on a volume of 2.15 million shares.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com