SWISS Carries More Passengers than Ever in 2015

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) transported 16,307,542 travellers last year — an all-time record annual passenger volume, and a 0.9 percent improvement on the 16,169,411 of 2014.

The airline operated 145,146 flights in the course of 2015, up 0.7 percent on the 144,116 of the previous year. Of these, 126,715 were within Europe (up 0.6 percent) and 18,431 (up 1.2 percent) were on intercontinental routes.

Total annual capacity was raised 1.1 percent year-on-year in available seat-kilometre (ASK) terms. Total traffic volume, measured in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPK), increased by 0.8 percent.

Annual seat load factor on European services stood at 78.5 percent, a 0.9-percentage-point increase on the 77.6 percent of 2014. Annual seat load factor for the intercontinental network amounted to 85.6 percent, down 0.9 percentage points from the 86.5 percent of the previous year.

The airfreight business of SWISS WorldCargo posted a cargo load factor (by volume) for the year of 75.9 percent, 3.5 percentage points down from the 79.4 percent of 2014. Total cargo sales declined 4.3 percent in revenue tonne-kilometre terms.

In December 2015 SWISS carried a total of 1,203,667 passengers, a 2.6 percent decline from the 1,236,146 of December 2014. A total of 11,393 flights were operated in the month, 3.0 percent up from the 11,062 of the prior-year period. Of these, 9,838 were within Europe (up 3.5 percent) and 1,555 (down 0.3 percent) were on intercontinental routes.

SWISS’s 2015 financial results will be presented on March 17.