SWISS International Air Lines increased its total income from operating activities to CHF3.707 billion ($4.218 billion) for the first nine months of 2011, a five per cent improvement on the prior-year period. Thanks to strong demand and high fleet utilisation, Swiss also posted a CHF159 million ($181 million) profit for the third-quarter period. As a result, operating profit for the first nine months of 2011 amounted to CHF288 million ($328 million), 24 per cent up on the same period last year. UAE sales experienced 12 per cent passenger growth while revenues rose 10 per cent in the first nine months over the same period last year.
“Given the market circumstances in which they were achieved, these results are in line with our expectations,” says Swiss CEO Harry Hohmeister. “With the strong demand for our services and the high utilisation of our aircraft fleet, we were able to offset multiple negative influences on our business performance.”
Swiss operated 112,915 flights in the first nine months of 2011, some 6.8 per cent more than in the comparable period last year. The 11.56 million passengers carried in the first nine months of 2011 were also a 9.5 per cent improvement on the 10.56 million of January-to-September 2010. The airfreight business of Swiss WorldCargo saw satisfactory developments. With capacity for the period increased by 4.9 per cent, cargo load factor (by volume) amounted to 78.2 per cent, down 2.2 percentage points.