In the first nine months of 2014, the company expanded its fleet, including 13 new Airbus A320s, three new Boeing 737-800 and six new Boeing 777-300ERs.
MOSCOW – JSC Aeroflot announces operating results of the Company and Aeroflot Group for September 2014 and the first nine months (9M) of 2014.
JSC “Aeroflot” standalone:
- Passenger traffic in September 2014 totalled 2.15 mln, a 9.4% year-on-year increase. Passenger traffic on domestic routes increased by 32.6% year-on-year in September 2014, driven in part by increased flight frequency on high-demand routes. International traffic declined 6.2% year-on-year in September 2014, primarily due to the Company ceasing to carry passengers under block charter agreements (the least profitable passenger segment) and optimisation of carrying capacities on international tourist routes. Lower frequency flights to Kiev and the suspension of flights to Donetsk, Kharkov and Odessa as well as reclassification of flights to Simferopol as domestic were among other factors impacting international traffic.
For 9M 2014, passenger traffic totalled 17.83 mln, a 13.4% year-on-year increase.
- Revenue passenger kilometres (“RPK”) for September 2014 totalled 6.10 bln, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%. RPKs for domestic and international flights were up 25.3% and 0.6% year-on-year respectively. For 9M 2014, the Company’s RPKs increased 11.8% year-on-year to 50.73 bln.
- In the first nine months of 2014, the company expanded its fleet, including 13 new Airbus A320s, three new Boeing 737-800 and six new Boeing 777-300ERs. The new factory-direct planes contributed to the ongoing modernisation of the fleet, which is now the youngest in the World . In 9M 2014 four Boeing 767-300ER aircraft exited the Aeroflot fleet as their leases expired, and seven Airbus A320 family aircraft were transferred to subsidiary airlines. Changes to the company’s fleet contributed to an increase in available seat kilometres (“ASK”) of 10.7% year-on-year in September 2014 and 12.1% year-on-year in 9M 2014.
- The passenger load factor decreased by 1.4 percentage points (p.p.) year-on-year in September 2014 to 81.3%. This was mainly due to a 5.9 p.p. decrease in the passenger load factor on routes to Southeast Asia, as the company increased capacity on these routes while ceasing operations of Boeing 767s, replacing them with larger Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft. A significant deceleration in transit traffic from Ukraine, lower demand for leisure travel, which is sensitive to the political and economic crisis, and discontinuation of blocked-off charter flights (which have lower profitability but higher seat load factors) also contributed to the changes in passenger load factor on routes to Southeast Asia.
For 9M 2014, the passenger load factor was 79.5%, a 0.2 p.p. decrease year-on-year.
- Flight hours of the Company’s fleet increased by 8.2% year-on-year in September 2014 and by 8.8% year-on-year in 9M 2014.
Aeroflot Group:
- Total passenger traffic for September 2014 increased 9.2% year-on-year to 3.30 mln due to a 26.5% increase in domestic traffic. International traffic for September 2014 was down 4.3% year-on-year, due in part to restructuring of Rossiya Airlines routes and increased numbers of flights on domestic routes (amid higher passenger load factor) and the company ceasing to operate low-margin block charter flights on tourist routes.
- Passenger traffic for 9M 2014 increased 10.5% year-on-year to 26.53 mln.
- September 2014 RPKs increased 6.7% year-on-year to 8.58 bln, with RPKs on domestic and international flights up 19.9% and down 0.5% year-on-year, respectively. Aeroflot Group’s RPK for 9M 2014 increased 5.7% year-on-year to 69.11 bln.
- The passenger load factor for September 2014 was 80.9%, a 0.8 p.p. year-on-year decrease. The load factor was 79.2% in 9M 2014, an increase of 0.1 p.p. year-on-year.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
