Lufthansa passenger figures drop 3.9%

"Persistent global recession" blamed 

German national carrier Lufthansa today (October 9) reported a 3.9% drop in passengers for the first nine months of 2009.

The airline carried 41.9m passengers in a period when capacity was cut by1.9% and revenue per seat-kilometre dropped by 3.8%.

During the nine months, its load factor fell by 1.5%.

It said passenger numbers dropped in all regions except Middle East/Africa.

Lufthansa blamed the "persistent global recession" for the fall in numbers.

Lufthansa Group, whose figure include Lufthansa, SWISS, bmi since July and Austrian Airlines since September said it carried 55.4m passengers in the first nine months.

Of these 41.9m flew Lufthansa, 10.3 flew SWISS, 2.2m bmi and 970,000 Austrian.

The Group said its financial results for the first nine months of 2009 will be announced on October 29.

www.lufthansa.com