Traffic and load factors improve (185 words)

Published: 5/15/2001

Aeroflot has reported an increase in traffic between January-April 2001 of 20.1%, carrying 1,644,000 passengers over the period. Cargo and mail increased by 4%, to 33,200 tonnes. The company's load factors also grew, with commercial load factor up by 3.5% to 53.8% and seat load factor up by 4.7% to 64.2%.

Aeroflot operating statistics
	1Q00	1Q01	chng	4mo00	4mo01	chng	Apr-00	Apr-01	chng
Passengers, m	995	1,184	19%	1,369	1,644	20%	374	461	23%
international routes	767	881	15%	1,046	1,204	15%	279	324	16%
domestic routes	227	304	34%	323	440	36%	95	136	43%
Cargo carried, '000 tons	22	23	3%	32	33	2%	10	9	-5%
RPK	3,632	4,163	15%	4,906	5,637	15%	1,273	1,476	16%
ASK	5,965	6,422	8%	7,862	8,780	12%	2,039	2,358	16%
Seat load	60.90%	64.70%	4%	62.40%	64.20%	2%	62.40%	62.60%	0%
RTK	n/a	516	n/a	654	702	n/a	177	186	n/a
Commercial load factor	51.20%	54.20%	3%	50.90%	53.80%	3%	54.20%	52.40%	-2%
Flight hours	49,793	53,926	8%	67,295	73,217	9%	17,333	19,257	11%
Average flight distance, 000 km	3.65	3.51	-4%	3.58	3.43	-4%	3.4	3.2	-6%
Source: Aeroflot

The utilisation of the airline's passenger fleet improved, with an increase in the number of hours flown up by 10.4%, although the number of hours flown by the airline's ageing cargo fleet fell by 9.6%. In April 2001, Aeroflot carried 460,600 passengers: an increase of 23% on April 2000. However, according to Elena Zemlyanko, spokesperson for Aeroflot, cargo volume fell last month, by 6.9% to 9,300 tonnes, reflecting falling volumes of mail and cargo for the airline on international routes, which represent most of the airline's cargo traffic. She added that domestic traffic was up by 29.2% during April. The commercial load factor for cargo was 52.4%: down by 1.8%. Seat load factor was 62.6% in April 2001, on a par with 62.4% in April 2000.

Article ID: 2531