China Southern sees passenger traffic rise
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China Southern Airlines saw a 14.1% rise in passenger traffic in July 2009, boosted by strong domestic demand. In total the airline carried 6.1 million passengers last month, with the cumulative total for the first seven months of the year rising to 37.1 million, an 11.2% year-on-year increase.
The positive figures were achieved due to a buoyant domestic market. Within China, Guangzhou-based China Southern carried nearly 5.7 million passengers, in July representing a 15.5% year-on-year rise. Year-to-date domestic demand grew 13.7%. The airline’s international passenger traffic (excluding Hong Kong) declined 0.6% year-on-year to 312,000, however this was a marked improvement on previous months. Year-to-date China Southern’s international passenger traffic is 13.2% down on the same period in 2008.
Capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK) grew 12.9% to 11.1 billion in July 2009, again due to domestic demand. Domestic capacity climbed 15.2% to 9.7 billion ASK in July. Year-to-date, the carrier’s total capacity increased 5.8%, with an 18.2% decline in international capacity offset by a 10.9% increase on domestic routes.
As a result of this, China Southern’s overall load factors rose 0.1% to 75.2% in July. For the first seven months of the year loads factors averaged at 74.9% – a 1.5% year-on-year rise.
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