Airlines & Routes

Republic Airways Holdings reported preliminary passenger traffic results for May 2009. The company reported a 5.2% traffic decrease from the same month last year, while capacity dropped 4.0%. Load factor was 75.8% versus 76.8% in May 2008. Approximately 1.7 million passengers were carried during the month, a 1.4% decrease from the same month last year.

Allegiant Air reported May 2009 load factor of 90.6%, up 0.7 pts compared to May 2008, traffic was up 23.9%, while capacity was up 22.9% compared to the same period last year.

WestJet announced May traffic results with a load factor of 74.1%. Traffic declined 5.8%, while capacity grew 1.2% over the same period.

Continental Airlines reported a May consolidated load factor of 80.9%, 0.3 points below the May 2008 consolidated load factor, while traffic decreased 9.0% and capacity decrease 8.8% compared to May 2008.

Virgin Atlantic and Japan

Air Berlin is expanding its route network and will be flying to Israel for the first time this summer. From 7th July 2009 onwards, Air Berlin passengers will have a choice of two non-stop flights a week from Berlin to Tel Aviv. There will also be feeder flights from various German cities.

In April, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair reported an increase in traffic of 8.8% compared to the same month in 2008 – while the load factor rose by 3.2 percentage points to 82.6%. Capacity for the month rose by 1.1%.

In April 2009, Air France/KLM recorded a 3.4% reduction in capacity with a 2.8% decline in traffic. The load factor stood at the high level of 80.5%, up 0.6 points. The group carried 6.2 million passengers (-3.7%).

SAS Group’s traffic decreased by 18.4 % during April and capacity was down 20.6% vs. 2008. Total passenger load factor in April was up by 2.0 p.u. to 72.5%, positively affected by capacity adjustments and Easter effect.

In April 2009, BA’s passenger capacity was 2.4% below April 2008, traffic rose by 0.9%. This resulted in a passenger load factor increase of 2.6 points versus last year, to 78.1%.