OREANDA-NEWS The airlines of the Lufthansa Group transported some 7.8 million passengers in February, 12.4% more than in the same period last year. Total capacity for the month was up 8.5% in available seat-kilometer terms and total traffic volume, measured in revenue passenger-kilometers, increased by 12.6% despite one additional day in February 2016 due to the leap year. The seat load factor improved accordingly, rising 2.7 percentage points to 75.0%. Cargo capacity increased 0.7% year-on-year, while cargo sales were up 5.2% in revenue tonne-kilometer terms. Cargo load factor for the month showed a corresponding improvement, rising 3.0 percentage points. Pricing excluding currency was negative compared to February 2016.

Network airlines Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines carried 6.1 million passengers in February, 2.6% more than in the prior-year period. Capacity increased by 0.4%, while the sales volume was up 4.3%, raising seat load factor by 2.8 percentage points.

Lufthansa German Airlines transported 4.3 million passengers in February, a 1.7% increase on the same month last year. February capacity was reduced by a slight 1.7%, while the sales volume was up 2.7%. Seat load factor was 3.3 percentage points above its prior-year level.

The Lufthansa Group’s point-to-point airlines – Eurowings (including Germanwings) and Brussels Airlines – carried 1.7 million passengers in February. Of these, 1.5 million were on short-haul and 0.2 million on long-haul flights. This amounts to an increase of 70.4% in comparison to the previous year, which alongside organic growth is a result of the inclusion of Brussels Airlines and additional capacity through the wet lease agreement with Air Berlin.