airberlin April traffic falls short of expectations

In April 2015, airberlin welcomed 2,358,264 passengers on board, 7.6 percent less than in the corresponding month of the previous year. On a global scale, passengers traveling within airberlin’s flight route network in April covered a total of 3.675 billion kilometers (RPK), a decrease of 7.1 percent in yearly comparison.

The available seat kilometers (ASK) decreased by 3.8 percent to 4.534 billion. In order to improve the economic efficiency of individual routes, a flight route network optimization was carried out, which resulted in corresponding capacity reductions. The capacity utilization (RPK/ASK) over the entire flight route network decreased by 2.9 percentage points to 81.1 percent, as compared to April 2014.

For the first four months of 2015, airberlin increased its flight capacity utilization by 0.2 percentage points to a total of 82.6 percent. The accumulated number of passengers for 2015 decreased to 8,168,661 passengers, i.e. a reduction of 2.9 percent as compared to the previous year. A substantial factor of influence in April 2015 was the different starting date of the Easter vacation in comparison with the previous year, resulting in a lower overall performance for April.

Nevertheless, Stefan Pichler, CEO of the airberlin group, remains convinced of a positive development: “April 2015 fell significantly short of expectations, due to seasonal fluctuations. In the corresponding month of the previous year, airberlin had received an additional income push due to the strike of the pilots at Lufthansa and from the Easter vacation. Nonetheless, we are looking at a strong improvement of the result for the 1st quarter of 2015 and must now fully concentrate our efforts on the current reorientation.”

The revenue passenger kilometers from January to April 2015 increased to 13.518 billion (previous year: 13.486 billion). With 16.361 billion, the available seat kilometers practically remained stable at the level of the previous year (2014: 16.363 billion). In view of the coming months, airberlin is anticipating an increase of the average revenue (Yield) and is as of now offering a new pricing system that provides passengers with an even more individualized range of products. This will lead to additional impulses in the context of the current restructuring efforts.