BALTIC BOOM LEADS ERA MEMBER GROWTH

04/04/2005

Accession to the European Union appears to have had a major impact on European Regions Airline Association member airlines in the Baltic States, with the Association’s figures for 2004 indicating their passenger growth exceeding five times the average figure of 4.1%.

Among the year-end results for ERA’s reporting carriers, substantial growth in passenger numbers was reported for Lithuania and Latvia where three carriers (Air Lithuania, Lithuanian Airlines and airBaltic) all reported passenger growth of more than 22%.

Ireland and Finland also saw significant growth in passenger numbers during 2004 by ERA members based in these states.

Said ERA Director General Mike Ambrose: “Air transport is already proving to be the glue that will hold the enlarged EU economy together. New Europeans clearly want and need to fly for business or pleasure and should not be constrained from doing so by unnecessary regulations.”

The final count for 2004 continues a trend of steady, stable growth that has been evident each month throughout the year. Compared to 2003, passenger growth averaged 4.1% for 2004 and Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) averaged 7.1%.

Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) showed a marked improvement from the spring onwards, resulting in average growth of 6.9% when compared to 2003. Coupled with somewhat slower growth in seats (4.7% for 2004), this has led to a considerable increase in the average sector distance travelled by reporting carriers. Average sector distance was 531 kilometres (km), an increase of 17km over 2003.

Passenger load factors have continued to improve steadily this year with an average of 60.3% recorded, almost a one-point rise over 2003. Average Sector Time has also increased with the average flight time being one hour and 12 minutes, a rise of one minute over 2003.

Overall departure punctuality remained fairly stable during 2004. The proportion of flights departing on time improved by three points to 88%. Flights departing within 60 minutes of scheduled time remained the same at 98%. On average 12.3% of all flights were delayed during the year and 1.9% of flights were cancelled.

The ERA Directorate produces a range of statistics on ERA members, published in full at www.eraa.org/asp.