IN THE first six months of 2011, Deutsche Lufthansa carried 50.2 million passengers, an increase year-on-year of 10.1 per cent.
The group raised capacity in the term by 11.9 per cent, while sales rose by 9.1 per cent. The seat load factor fell by 1.9 percentage points on the prior-year level to 75.4 per cent. Passenger numbers grew in all traffic regions but the biggest rise came in Europe, largely owing to the improved traffic performance of Lufthansa Passenger Airlines in the region. Larger aircraft and the introduction of the new cabin on European routes increased capacity in the first half 2011 as well as sales and the passenger count.
Overall, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines raised the number of passengers in the first half by 14.8 per cent to a total of 31.2 million. Capacity was up by 14.5 per cent, sales by 11.4 per cent. The passenger load factor fell against the year-earlier level by 2.1 percentage points to 75.7 per cent. Passenger numbers for Lufthansa Passenger Airlines increased in all traffic regions and most of all in Europe.
In the first half year, Swiss carried around 7.8 million passengers, a further 5.1 million flew with Austrian Airlines, around 2.8 million passengers chose to fly with bmi and around 3.4 million with Germanwings.
Lufthansa Cargo increased transported volumes by 14.8 per cent to 953,000 tonnes in the first six months and returned a high load factor of 69.1 per cent.