INTRA-EUROPEAN PASSENGERS FLYING FURTHER, SAYS ERA

08/07/2005

CORRECTED VERSION

Passengers are now flying longer distances on intra-European scheduled airlines, according to first quarter results reported to the European Regions Airline Association.

Average trip distance by ERA member airlines is now 555 km, a significant increase over 2004 when the average was 521 km for the same period.

New routes spanning east, central and west Europe plus the presence of more turbofan aircraft in the fleet (now an almost 55% share of ERA’s total) are indicated as the source of the increase in sector distance.

The trend is identifiable through slightly slower growth in the number of seats (4.7%) offered when compared to Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) (8.5%).

Introduction of longer-range turbofan aircraft has also affected the average sector time recorded. The average flight time of 1 hour and 14 minutes is now three minutes longer than it was in 2004 for the same period; 7.2% growth was reported in the number of hours flown.

ERA members have, on average, shown a marked improvement in their performance so far this year with all major traffic indicators reporting steady growth. An average of 6.2% growth in the number of scheduled passengers and 11.1% for Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) was reported for the first quarter of 2005.

Scheduled passenger load factors averaged 56.9% for the quarter, a one percentage point rise over last year, while 5.8% growth was reported for the number of flights flown.

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