Australia's Virgin Blue group has reported a 28% growth in passenger traffic in January, driven by strong growth in the international segment.
Domestic RPKs fell 7% but international RPKs grew 178%, says the group.
In real numbers, the total number of passengers carried fell 1% to 1.6 million. Domestic passenger numbers fell 6% to 1.3 million, and international passenger numbers grew 37% to 284,986, says Virgin Blue.
Overall capacity, as measured in ASKs, grew 25%. Domestic capacity was cut 6% and international capacity grew 144%.
The overall passenger load factor grew 1.8 percentage points to 84.2%, says Virgin Blue.
The statistics exclude Polynesian Blue. The group includes Virgin Blue, V Australia and New Zealand-based Pacific Blue.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
