OREANDA-NEWS. May 07, 2014. JSC Aeroflot ("the Company", Moscow Exchange ticker: AFLT) announces operating results of the Company and Aeroflot Group ("the Group") for March 2014 and the first quarter of 2014.
Highlights

Aeroflot standalone:

Passenger traffic in March 2014 totalled 1.84 mln. This represented 16.8% year-on-year growth, nearly double the overall Russian industry growth rate for the period of 8.9%. The increase was primarily due to a 34.8% rise in domestic traffic on the back of additional available capacity. International traffic rose 5.7% in March 2014. For Q1 2014, passenger traffic totalled 4.98 mln, a 15.2% year-on-year increase and faster than the 10.3% year-on-year increase for the industry as a whole.

Revenue passenger kilometres ("RPK") for March 2014 totalled 5.27 bln, a year-on-year increase of 11.4%. RPKs for domestic flights were the main growth driver (up 33.4% year-on-year), while RPKs on international flights posted a rise of 3.0%. Aeroflot’s March RPK growth rate was significantly faster than that of the industry as a whole (4.3%). For Q1 2014, RPKs increased 10.5% year-on-year to 14.39 bln. This growth was faster than the 7.4% year-on-year increase for the industry as a whole.

In Q1 2014 the Company expanded its fleet, flying eight new Airbus A320s, one new Boeing 737-800 and three new Boeing 777-300ERs. These additions contributed to a 16.9% year-on-year rise in available seat kilometres ("ASK") for March 2014 and a 14.2% increase for Q1 2014. The new factory-direct planes also contributed to the ongoing modernisation of the fleet, which is now one of the youngest in Europe.

Higher ASK contributed to a decrease in the passenger load factor; it was 76.0% for the month, 3.3 percentage points lower than for March 2013.

Aeroflot Group:

Total passenger traffic for March 2014 was 2.48 mln, up 10.7% year-on-year. The main factor driving passenger traffic growth was a 28.9% increase in domestic traffic. International traffic declined 2.7% for the month. Passenger traffic for Q1 2014 increased 12.2% year-on-year to 6.89 mln.

March RPK increased 0.3% year-on-year to 6.53 bln. The significant growth in domestic RPKs of 21.7% was balanced by a decrease in international RPKs of 8.7%, which was primarily due to reallocation of some OrenAir capacity from Middle East and Asia routes (due to political instability) to European destinations. RPK for Q1 2014 increased 2.8% to 18.36 bln.

The passenger load factor for March 2014 was 74.6%.