China Eastern Airlines has posted a 6.4% increase in passenger traffic in January, with the domestic segment contributing the highest growth.
Overall RPKs grew 6.4% from a year ago, says the Shanghai-based carrier. Domestic traffic rose 10.6%, international traffic grew 1.9% but regional traffic fell 23.8%.
Regional traffic refers to that from Hong Kong and Macau.
In real numbers, the total number of passengers carried grew 9% to 3.5 million, says China Eastern.
Domestic passenger numbers grew 11.8% to 3 million, international passenger numbers increased 3.3% to 370,660 and regional passenger numbers fell 20.9% to 141,380.
Overall capacity, as measured by ASKs, grew 4.1%. Domestic capacity grew 8.8%, international capacity fell 2.5% and regional capacity decreased 17.3%.
The overall passenger load factor grew 1.6 percentage points to 71.8%, says China Eastern. The domestic passenger load factor grew 1.2 percentage points to 74%, the international passenger load factor increased 2.9 percentage points to 67.5% and the regional passenger load factor fell 5.5 percentage points to 64.6%.
On the cargo front, overall RFTKs grew 84.7%, says the carrier. Domestic cargo traffic was up 45.9%, international was up 104.9% and regional increased 95.9%.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
