Lufthansa’s Traffic Down 7 Percent in First Quarter

Lufthansa’s passenger numbers declined in the first three months of 2009 under the impact of the downswing and the persistently difficult economic situation. The biggest German airline failed in the circumstances to match the previous year’s record figures.

The passenger count in the first quarter was down by 7 percent to 12.1 million. Capacity was reduced by 3.3 percent to accommodate falling demand. Revenue seat-kilometers fell by 7.2 percent. Passenger load factor declined by 3.1 percentage points to 74.1 percent. Passenger numbers were down in all traffic regions.

Overall in the first three months of the year, Lufthansa and Swiss together carried 15 million passengers, which is 6 percent less than in the first quarter in the previous year. About 3 million of those were transported by Swiss. The number of flights operated by the Lufthansa Group declined by 4.1 percent to 187,738.

Freight tonnage transported and utilization also fell at Lufthansa Cargo in the first quarter. Altogether, the Lufthansa airfreight subsidiary transported 328,000 tons of cargo and mail, which is 23.4 percent less than the year-earlier level. Utilization in the cargo business fell to 57.6 percent.