Half yearly report

B&H records biggest passenger surge

Passenger numbers carried by national EX-YU carriers for the third quarter are soon to be published. But how did they do in the first two quarters? Despite the fact that the global economic crisis is waning, most EX-YU carriers are reporting passenger slumps. B&H Airlines managed to see the biggest passenger increase in the first half of the year, Croatia Airlines the biggest decrease and Jat levelled with the same number of passenger.

B&H Airlines carried 54.191 passengers in the first two quarters, an increase of just over 200% compared to the same period last year. The increase coincides with the 50% jump in the number of operated flights. With visa restrictions to be abolished to most countries within the European Union for Bosnian citizens by the end of the year, the airline will hope to see an even further increase in passenger numbers.

Croatia Airlines transported 695.200 passengers, a decrease of 8.4%. The airline’s average cabin occupancy index stood at 56.6%. The airline decreased its capacity by almost 10% in the first six months. Croatia Airlines has publicly said that it hopes that a strong summer season will improve both its passenger numbers and finances. It should be noted that in the first six months Croatia Airlines was significantly impacted by the volcanic ash cloud and the cabin crew strike.

Slovenia’s Adria Airways handled 433.600 passengers, a decrease of 2.6% compared to last year. Its load factor stood at a respectable 62.2%. It, too, cut capacity in the first half of the year by 12.5%. Adria had to significantly reduce the number of flights earlier in the year after Ljubljana Airport closed its doors in favour of a runway reconstruction.

Jat Airways carried 418.300, the same amount it did in the first half of 2009. The number of flights barely increased, by 0.4%, while capacity was cut by 6%. Its average load factor stood at 56.2%, an increase of 3%. Jat has been hit by competition from Belgrade and local media doubt the airline will manage to transport over 1 million passengers by the end of the year.

Despite being a public company, Montenegro Airlines has not published its results for the first two quarters, although growth has been reported during the summer months. Among other legacy carriers in Europe, TAROM Romanian Airlines saw the greatest passenger increase (+ 31.4%), while KLM had the greatest cabin load factor (82.1%). On the other end of the spectrum, BMI International saw the biggest passenger decrease (- 23.8%).