IN 2010 European carrier Swiss transported more than 14 million passengers in one year for the first time in its history. A total of 14, 168,718 used the airline, an increase of 2.8 per cent compared to the previous year. The increase in production (plus 4.4 per cent available seat kilometres) was fully absorbed by the market. The seat load factor (SLF) for the year was 82.3 per cent compared to 80.1 per cent in 2009, a company record for capacity utilisation in one year. The number of flights operated increased moderately, by 3.6 per cent to 141,405 in 2010. On intercontinental routes Swiss was able to raise SLF from 83.2 per cent in 2009 to a record 86.8 per cent in 2010. Revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) rose by 9.5 per cent against a 4.9 per cent increase in available seat kilometres (ASK). In Europe, capacity in terms of ASK was 3.4 per cent higher on a year-on-year comparison. Revenue seat kilometres increased by 2.6 per cent. The SLF remained practically unchanged at 73.5 per cent (2009: 74.1 per cent). In the cargo sector, Swiss WorldCargo achieved a marked increase in volume-based freight load factor in 2010: the relevant value for the year stood at 81.1 per cent, no fewer than 10.4 percentage points higher than for the previous year (2009: 70.7 per cent). Cargo tonne kilometres sold climbed by 21.4 per cent. In December seat load factor and the number of passengers carried remained at the level of the previous year despite numerous flight cancellations due to adverse winter weather. In the last month of 2010 a total of 1,126,551 passengers flew with Swiss. The seat load factor for the month was 80.8 per cent. At 82.9 per cent, the cargo load factor for December was also just slightly down on a year-ago comparison.