Air China passenger traffic up 9.4% in June

For the whole month, the carrier bought 268,000 tonnes of jet fuel a surge of 35% compared to last year.

Passenger traffic has shown a steady year-over-year growth across the board during June 2011. As for month-over-month performance, while international traffic has increased, domestic and regional traffic decreased slightly. In cargo, international and domestic Revenue Freighter Tonne Kilometres (RFTK) and freighter tonnage carried all achieved year-over-year increases while regional cargo routes were the exception to this trend. For month-over-month performance, regional cargo routes showed a slight rise while the other sectors experienced a decline in performance.

Passenger traffic for June achieved a higher year-over-year growth than the increase in capacity. Passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), was up 5.7% year-over-year while passenger traffic, measured by Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK), rose by 9.4%. Capacity on domestic routes increased by 4.4%, while RPK climbed 9.3% year-over-year. Capacity on international routes grew 7.9%, with RPK increasing by 9.0%. Capacity on regional routes expanded 4.5%, with RPK rising by 16.3%. The passenger load factor was 83.2%, up 2.9 percentage points year-over-year. The passenger load factor for international, domestic and regional routes increased by 0.9, 3.8 and 8.1 percentage points respectively year-over-year.

Cargo capacity, measured in Available Freighter Tonne Kilometres (AFTK), rose 1.5% year-over-year in June. Revenue Freighter Tonne Kilometres (RFTK) increased by 3.3%, and freighter tonnage carried increased by 4.7%, compared with June 2010. The cargo load factor was 62.1%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points year-over-year.

Starting from 15 June, the company launched a new international flight between Beijing and Milan three times a week. And starting from 16 June, the company also launched another new international flight between Chengdu and Tokyo two times a week, according to an Air China report.

During the month, Air China purchased a total of 268,000 tonnes of jet fuel at an average price of RMB7,654 per tonne, a year-over-year surge of 35%. The average jet fuel purchase price at international airports was RMB6,914 per tonne, and the average purchase price of jet fuel for international flights at the top six Chinese airports was RMB7,205 per tonne, representing steep increases of 40% and 33% year-over-year, respectively. The average jet fuel purchase price for domestic flights was RMB8,090 per tonne, a rise of 34% compared with June last year.

During the month, the company added one B737-800 aircraft, one A320 aircraft and one business jet, while retiring one B737-300 aircraft. As of the end of June, Air China operated a fleet of 292 aircraft.