The FINANCIAL -- business
Traffic declined 1.6% in January with capacity reduced by 3.4%, leading to a 1.4 improvement in the load factor to 78.0%. The group carried a total of 5.1 million passengers (-3.2%). Activity levels were affected by the adverse weather conditions as well as two days of strikes by French air traffic controllers. Year-on-year changes benefit from a favourable comparison base, with the exception of the Americas and Africa and Middle East networks which recorded rises in both traffic and capacity in January 2009.
Despite an improvement in long-haul, unit revenue per available seat kilometer (RASK) remained below last year’s level.
On the Americas network the load factor rose 3.5 points to 83.8% on the back of a decline in traffic of 0.5% and a capacity reduction of 4.6%. Load factors improved in both North and Latin America.
On the Asia network traffic was virtually stable (-0.5%) with capacity down by 1.7%. The load factor gained 1.0 point to 84.6%, confirming the progressive recovery in demand on this network.
On the Africa and Middle East network traffic declined at almost the same rate as capacity (-2.7% and –2.9% respectively). The load factor was slightly up at 76.4% (+0.2 points).
The Caribbean and Indian Ocean network saw a 2.2% drop in traffic while capacity rose 1.4%. As a result, the load factor fell 3.0 points to 80.6%.
On the European network, capacity was reduced by 6.6%. The decline in traffic was more limited at 3.9% leading to a 1.8 point improvement in load factor to 61.6%.
Cargo business
The cargo business benefited from an improved environment, with a slight increase in volumes (+0.6%), a 2.0% rise in traffic and an 11.4% reduction in capacity. The load factor gained 8.5 points to 64.3%. The Asia network saw a marked recovery both in terms of volumes and traffic. Unit revenue per available ton kilometre (RATK) continued to improve, recording a slight rise compared to a year earlier.
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