China Eastern Airlines posted a 14% increase in RPKs in October, driven by growth in the domestic sector.
Domestic RPKs grew 20% from a year before and international RPKs increased by 5%. Regional RPKs in October fell by 20% from a year before, says the Shanghai-based carrier. The regional sector refers to traffic from Hong Kong and Macau.
The Star Alliance member increased capacity, as measured by ASKs, by 9%. Regional ASKs fell by 16% and international ASKs were 5% lower, but domestic ASKs rose by 17%.
Overall passenger load factor grew by 4.2 percentage points to 66.5%. It went up by 1.9 percentage points to 68.5% in the domestic sector, by 6.6 percentage points to 64.4% in the international sector, and two percentage points to 57.7% in the regional sector.
In real terms, the total number of passengers grew by 17% to 4.2 million. Domestic passenger numbers rose 21% to 3.6 million, international numbers increased by 2% to 380,000, while regional numbers fell by 14% to 163,000.
The carrier's cargo business also grew in October, with revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTK) rising by 15%. Domestic RFTKs grew by 22% and international RFTKs increased by 15%, but regional cargo traffic fell by 20%.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
