Uncertain outlook weakens passenger demand

Airline members of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) have reported 1.4% scheduled passenger growth for the first quarter of 2012, showing a drop in demand that reflects the current economic climate and uncertain outlook.

However significant reductions in capacity (Seats and Seat Kilometres recorded -3.4% and -6.8% respectively) to match the reduction in demand (Passenger Kilometres recorded -1.1%) resulted in load factor increasing by 4 percentage points to 64.9%. Punctuality remains excellent and has even improved slightly with 87.8% of flights departing on time and 97% departing within 60 minutes. The number of delayed flights was also down at 12.2% (compared with 12.6% for the same period in 2011), while the number of cancelled flights also decreased to 2.1% (2.2%).

Mike Ambrose, Director General, said: “It has been a tough start to 2012 and the fragile economy has made trading conditions extremely difficult. The industry has sought efficiency improvements by reducing capacity to match demand. Full recovery is clearly some distance away. Europe’s regulators and politicians need to be fully aware of the economic state of the industry when considering initiatives that could add further cost and/or operational burdens.”

The full January – March 2012 performance figures can be accessed from the ERA website: http://www.eraa.org/library/statistics.