LUFTHANSA: Lufthansa Group airlines carried 55.4 million passengers in first nine months 2009

Oct 12, 2009 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- AUALF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Lufthansa traffic figures declined in the first nine months 2009 owing to the persistent global recession. Germany's biggest airline was consequently unable to match the level achieved in the comparable term in the previous year. The Lufthansa passenger count in the first three quarters of the current year was down by 3.9 per cent to 41.9 million. In the same period, capacity was scaled back by 1.9 per cent in line with the drop in demand. Revenue seat-kilometres fell by 3.8 per cent. The seat load factor was down accordingly by 1.5 points to 77.7 per cent. Passenger numbers dropped in all traffic regions with the exception of the MiddleEast/Africa.

All in all, Lufthansa, SWISS, bmi and Austrian Airlines welcomed 55.4 million passengers on board their flights in the first nine months of the year. Of the total, about 10.3 million flew with SWISS, around 970,000 with Austrian Airlines and about 2.2 million with bmi. The Group's nine-month figures include passengers from Austrian Airlines only since September and those from bmi only since July. The number of flights operated by the Lufthansa Group rose to 636,199, an increase of 1.4 per cent.

Lufthansa Cargo also posted a drop in freight tonnage transported and utilisation in the first nine months of the year. Overall, the Lufthansa logistics services subsidiary transported a total of 1.1 million tonnes of freight and mail, which is 15.2 per cent less than in the previous year. Capacity utilisation in the airfreight business fell to 61.7 per cent.

The financial results of the Lufthansa Group for the first nine months of the year will be published at 8 a.m. on 29 October 2009. They can then be downloaded from www.lufthansa.com/investor-relations.

Jan.-Sept. 2009 Jan.-Sept. 2008 Y-on-Y change in per cent

Lufthansa Passenger Airlines[1] / Lufthansa Cargo

Passengers in 1,000s 41,921 43,639 -3.9

Available seat-kilometres (in millions) 119,470 121,777 -1.9

Revenue seat-kilometres (in millions) 92,798 96,439 -3.,8

Seat load factor in per cent 77.7 79.2 -1.5 pp.

Freight/mail (in 1,000 tonnes) 1,092 1,287 -15.2

Cargo load factor in per cent 61.7 66.4 -4.7pp.

SWISS

Passengers in 1,000s 10,259 10,128 +1.3

Seat load factor in per cent 79.2 80.9 -1.7 pp.

Austrian Airlines

Passengers in 1,000s 970 - -

Seat load factor in per cent 77.9 - -

bmi

Passengers in 1,000s 2,218 - -

Seat load factor in per cent 77.9 - -

Lufthansa Group[2]

Passengers in 1,000s 55,368 53.767 +3.0

Number of flights 636,199 627.342 +1.4

Germanwings

Passengers in 1,000s 5,466 5.925 -7.8

[1]Incl. Lufthansa Regional and Lufthansa Italia

[2]Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, SWISS, from July 2009 onwards bmi, from September 2009 onwards Austrian Airlines

CONTACT: Aage Duenhaupt/ Gudrun Gorner, Lufthansa German Airlines Tel: +44 (0)20 8750 3415 Fax: +44 (0)20 8759 1987 WWW: http://media.lufthansa.com Dave Sanders, Dave Sanders & Associates Ltd Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1257 278 767 e-mail: lhmedia@davesandersassociates.com

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