• 10-JAN-2019

  • Zurich Airport

SWISS sets new passenger record for 2018

Verkehrszahlen 2018
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS)1 set a new record last year for its annual passenger volumes. The airline carried a total of 17,937,391 travellers in 2018, a 6.2% increase on the previous year. SWISS operated 145,002 flights systemwide during the year, up 3.5% on 2017. Of these, 126,697 flights (up 3.9%) were within Europe and 18,305 flights (up 0.6%) were on intercontinental routes.
 
Total annual passenger capacity, measured in available seat-kilometres (ASK), was increased by 4.1%, while total annual traffic volume, expressed in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPK), rose 5.4%. ASK capacity and RPK volumes for Europe were up 5.9% and 6.1% respectively, while intercontinental services saw a 3.4% increase in ASK capacity and a 5.1% rise in RPK volumes.
Systemwide seat load factor for the year amounted to 83.4%, a one-percentage-point improvement on 2017. Seat load factor for European services was raised 0.2 percentage points to 77.7%, while seat load factor for the intercontinental network was improved 1.4 percentage points to 85.7%.
Swiss WorldCargo reported a cargo load factor (by volume) of 78.9% for the year, a 1.2-percentage-point decline from its 2017 level. Total cargo sales were up 0.8%, however, in revenue tonne-kilometre terms.
 
In December 2018 SWISS transported 1,346,380 passengers, a 4.5% increase on the prior-year period. A total of 11,664 flights were operated for the month, up 8.2% on December 2017.
December ASK capacity was raised 5.4% from its prior-year level, while December RPK traffic volume was increased by 6.0%. Systemwide seat load factor for the month improved accordingly, rising 0.5 percentage points to 80.6%.
SWISS will announce its annual financial results for 2018 on 14 March 2019.
 
Please note: to offer a full overview of the traffic performance of the airlines of the Lufthansa Group, we report all these carriers’ traffic results. This overview (in which the results for SWISS also include those of its sister carrier Edelweiss) is provided in the tables attached.
 
1 excluding Edelweiss Air

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  • SWISS Media Relations
    SWISS Media Relations
    Switzerland
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