Total passenger traffic for Aeroflot Group for May 2014 was 2.9 mln, up 9.5% year-on-year.
MOSCOW – JSC Aeroflot announces operating results of the company and Aeroflot Group for May 2014 and the first five months of 2014.
Highlights
Aeroflot standalone:
- Passenger traffic in May 2014 totalled 1.9 mln. This represented 13.7% year-on-year growth, significantly above the overall Russian industry growth rate for the period of 4.8%. This increase was primarily due to a 28.8% year-on-year rise in domestic traffic, driven in part by increasing flights on high-demand routes and adding available capacity. International traffic rose 2.3% year-on-year in May 2014. This modest growth was the result of reduced capacity on tourism routes (Larnaca, Heraklion and Antalya) following the withdrawal of Il-96 aircrafts from the fleet. As of now, the Company’s uses more efficient and smaller capacity aircraft (A-320) and no longer operates blocked-off charter flights (the least profitable capacity segment) on these routes. Lower frequency of flights to Kiev and Odessa and cancellation of flights to Donetsk and Kharkov as well as reclassification of flights to Simferopol as domestic were among other factors impacting international traffic. For 5M 2014, passenger traffic totalled 8.8 mln, a 15.9% year-on-year increase and faster than the 8.6% year-on-year increase for the industry as a whole.
- Revenue passenger kilometres (“RPK”) for May 2014 totalled 5.4 bln, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%. RPKs for domestic flights were up 23.4% year-on-year, while RPKs on international flights rose 7.9% year-on-year. RPK growth for the industry as a whole was 2.0% year-on-year. For 5M 2014, the Company’s RPKs increased 12.5% year-on-year to 25.2 bln. This growth was also considerably faster than the 3.2% year-on-year increase for the industry as a whole.
- In the first five months of 2014 the Company expanded its fleet, including 13 new Airbus A320s, two new Boeing 737-800 and six new Boeing 777-300ERs. These additions contributed to a 12.5% year-on-year rise in available seat kilometres (“ASK”) for May 2014 and a 13.9% year-on-year increase for 5M 2014. The new factory-direct planes also contributed to the ongoing modernisation of the fleet, which is now one of the youngest in Europe.
- The passenger load factor increased by 0.6 percentage points year-on-year in May 2014 to 74.5%. For 5M 2014, the passenger load factor was 75.5%, representing a 0.9 percentage point year-on-year decrease. The load factor for 4M 2014 decreased 1.4 percentage points, implying a slowdown in the pace of decline.
- Flight hours of the Company’s fleet for May 2014 and 5M 2014 increased by 9.7% and 10.1% year-on-year, respectively. While consistently growing the scale of its operations, Aeroflot continues to be one of the most punctual airlines in Europe. In May 2014, Flightstats named Aeroflot the world’s most punctual airline.
Aeroflot Group:
- Total passenger traffic for May 2014 was 2.9 mln, up 9.5% year-on-year. The main factor driving passenger traffic growth was a 20.8% increase in domestic traffic. International traffic for May 2014 was up 0.2% year-on-year. The modest growth rate of international traffic was influenced by restructuring of the route networks of OrenAir, Rossiya and Aurora aimed at opening new high-potential routes and discontinue service on unprofitable routes. Passenger traffic for 5M 2014 increased 11.1% year-on-year to 12.3 mln.
- May RPK increased 5.9% year-on-year to 7.3 bln. RPKs on domestic and international flights were up by 13.8% and 1.5% year-on-year, respectively. Aeroflot Group’s RPK for 5M 2014 increased 3.7% to 32.3 bln.
- The passenger load factor for May 2014 increased by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year to
Other events:
- In 2013 JSC Aeroflot discontinued its dedicated cargo fleet, switching to belly cargo operations. This was the main reason that cargo and mail carried decreased 31.8% year-on-year in May 2014.
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.
