OREANDA-NEWS. Aeroflot PJSC (Moscow Exchange ticker: AFLT) today announces operating results for Aeroflot Group (“the Group”) and Aeroflot – Russian Airlines (“the Company”) for January 2018.

In January 2018, Aeroflot Group carried 3.7 million passengers, up 7.7% year-on-year. Aeroflot airline carried 2.5 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%.

Group and Company RPKs increased by 7.5% and 5.2% year-on-year, respectively. ASKs rose by 6.6% year-on-year for both Aeroflot Group and Aeroflot airline.

On domestic routes, Group passengers carried and RPKs grew by 8.4% and 8.6% year-on-year, respectively. ASKs grew by 3.8% year-on-year. Company passengers carried and RPKs on domestic routes were up 9.8% and 7.5% year-on-year, respectively, while ASKs grew by 6.4%. The passenger load factor on domestic routes increased by 3.4 p.p. year-on-year up to 77.2% for Aeroflot Group and by 0.8 p.p. year-on-year to 75.7% for Aeroflot airline.

In January 2018, the number of passengers carried on the Group’s international routes increased by 6.9% year-on-year. RPKs grew by 6.8%, while capacity grew by 8.3%. The number of passengers carried by Aeroflot airline on international routes increased by 4.0% year-on-year, while RPKs grew by 4.1%, and ASKs by 6.7%. The passenger load factor on international routes decreased by 1.1 p.p. year-on-year to 77.3% for Aeroflot Group and by 1.8 p.p. year-on-year to 74.7% for Aeroflot airline.

The passenger load factor in the international segment decreased as capacity grew at a faster pace than actual RPKs due to increased flight frequencies, primarily on European and US routes. In addition, the significant increase in the passenger load factor in January 2017 driven by appreciation of the rouble created a high base factor, leading to a non-material normalisation of this indicator in the January 2018 reporting period. (In January 2017, the passenger load factor increased by 5.6 p.p. year-on-year for the Group and by 4.4 p.p. year-on-year for the Company).

In January 2018, Aeroflot airline added four aircraft: three Sukhoi Superjet 100 and one Boeing 737-800. There were no changes in the fleets of Aeroflot’s subsidiaries. As of 31 January 2018, the Group fleet had 329 aircraft (excluding aircraft leased or subleased out), while the Company fleet had 228 aircraft.