Lufthansa breaks passenger record

Lufthansa has set a new airline record for passengers carried to and from the UK & Ireland. The figure of 3,608,155 during 2006 shows an increase of almost 240,000 on the figures for 2005.

The figures show that the growth of Lufthansa’s passenger numbers in the UK & Ireland are well ahead of the airline’s average increase in 2006 - another record year. For Ireland alone they are more than three times the average figure. The number of passengers and of operated flights as well as capacity and sales all ended the year at an all-time high.

Overall in 2006, the airlines in the Group carried 53.4 million passengers, an increase on the year-earlier level of 4.2 per cent. Sales rose by 2.0 per cent on an increase of 1.8 per cent in capacity. The passenger load factor was up accordingly by 0.2 percentage points to 75.2 per cent. The Group posted above-average growth at the end of the year.

Passenger numbers in December boosted by the mild winter weather climbed year-on-year in the month by 6.9 per cent. The seat load factor rose by 1.4 percentage points.

The number of flights operated by the airline also reached a new peak in 2006. During the year, aircraft bearing the crane emblem took off and landed safely 664,382 times at one or other of the 200 or so destinations in the Lufthansa route network.