The traffic figures of the Austrian Airlines Group in the first quarter of the year were marked by the highly challenging conditions produced by the wider global economic crisis. In addition to the fact that demand is traditionally weak in the first quarter of the year in the airline sector, the economic downturn meant that levels of demand for flights were sharply lower. The company carried –15.5% fewer passengers from January to March. The reason for this, amongst other things, was last year’s early Easter compared to this year. Production volume was reduced by –11.7% in the same period. Overall, the Austrian Airlines Group carried more than 1.9 million passengers on its scheduled and charter services in the first quarter.

The two members of the Austrian Executive Board, Dr. Peter Malanik and Dr. Andreas Bierwirth, issued the following statement: “With our successfully implemented multilayer package of internal cost-cutting measures such as a cut in production, short-time working and a cut in salaries as well as a program to increase internal efficiency, we are actively working to counter the global slump in demand. These latest traffic results once again underline the importance of the role to be played by our system partners in overcoming the crisis. We expect them to make clear contributions that will enable us to secure Vienna’s place as a major business location. In our most important traffic segment, the Focus East region, demand appears more stable. This is proof that the strategy of our company is the right one.”

Short- and medium-haul segment
As expected, the trend in the first quarter was negative, with passenger volume falling by –13.9% and something over 1.6 million passengers carried in the short- and medium-haul segment. Revenue passenger kilometers on scheduled flights (RPK) fell by –10.3%, while scheduled capacity (ASK) was reduced by –5.5%. The passenger load factor produced on the strength of these figures was 61.3%, which is –3.3 percentage points down on the figure for the same period last year.

The sharp adjustments in production have now begun producing results: with supply increased by +2.1% in the Focus East region (Central/Eastern Europe and the Middle East) in the first quarter (ASK) and a cut in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK –7.0%), the passenger load factor fell by
–5.9 percentage points. In the “Rest of Europe” segment, production was cut by –12.9% (ASK), while revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) fell by –13.7%. This produced a relatively stable load factor of 62.5% (–0.6 percentage points).

In March, the Austrian Airlines Group recorded a fall in passenger volume in the short- and medium-haul segment of – 12.9% compared to 2008, with some 597,000 passengers carried. In light of the weakness of demand in the short- and medium-haul segment overall capacity (ASK) was reduced by –7.6%, while revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) fell by –10.5%. The passenger load factor in the short- and medium-haul segment was 65.5% (-2.1 percentage points down on 2008).

Long-haul segment
Cumulatively, some 206,000 scheduled passengers were carried on long-haul routes from January to March, which is -24.4% fewer than the same period the previous year. This was also a result of the targeted reduction in capacity (e.g. cancellation of the Mumbai route). Available seat kilometers (ASK) were deliberately reduced by –18.3%, while revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) fell by
–22.1%. The passenger load factor in this segment fell slightly compared to the previous year, going down by –3.8 percentage points to 76.0%.

Taking structural conditions into consideration, passenger volume in March 2009 was –24.9% lower than that in March 2008 on long-haul routes; in total, 72,000 passengers were carried in this segment. Long-haul scheduled capacity was reduced by –18.1% (ASK), while revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) fell by –22.3%. This produced a lower load factor of 78.5%, the equivalent of a reduction of –4.3 percentage points.

Passenger load factor in charter segment almost constant
Although the number of passengers carried in the first quarter, at 131,600, was down by –19.4% compared to the first quarter of 2008, the passenger load factor of 78.4% was almost constant, falling by just –0.4 percentage points. The reason for this, amongst other things, was last year’s early Easter.

In March, by contrast, the company was able to use targeted management of supply to achieve a +0.5 percentage point increase in the passenger load factor in the charter segment.