Traffic up by 1.12% in 2000 (170 words)

Published: 1/12/2001

Air Baltic (51.6% of which is owned by the Latvian state/38% by SAS) reports that passenger numbers rose by 1.12% in 2000, thereby increasing its passenger numbers to 218,270. The improvement is despite a 1% cut in the number of flights, which was reflected by a load factor increase of 1.15%, to 51.9%. The Latvian carrier's cargo traffic has also seen improvement, with it carrying 647,305 tonnes, representing an extra 19% on the previous year's figures. Whilst the October figures give an encouraging picture of strong growth, those for the year are more indicative of a slow-down. By October, traffic was reported to have increased by 10% for the January-October period, despite a corresponding 9% reduction in flights. This relatively sluggish end to the year was despite the addition of the Riga-Stockholm route (taken over from SAS). SAS still seem quite positive about improvements of its strategic partner in October, and has said that it expects the airline (which operates 3 Avro RJs and 3 Fokker 50s), to turn a profit in 2001.

Article ID: 2286