Virgin Australia reports sharp decline in international pax in Aug-2011

Virgin Blue Holdings announced the following traffic highlights in Aug-2011:

• Passenger numbers: 1,611,868, -2.7% year-on-year;
  • Domestic: 1,402,212, +0.5%;
  • International: 209,656, -19.7%;
• Passenger load factor: 78.1%, -1.6 ppts;
  • Domestic: 79.6%, -0.2 ppts;
  • International: 75.8%, -3.6 ppts;
• Average fleet size: 90.9, +4.8%;
• On-time performance: 85.6%, +3.1 ppts. [more - original PR]

Virgin Blue Holdings: "International Virgin Australia group of airlines traffic, measured by RPKs, increased by 4.6% on Aug-2010 while capacity, measured by ASKs, increased by 9.6% over the same period. This movement is partly driven by the Group's increased long haul flying to Abu Dhabi and its withdrawal from Johannesburg during the 2010 Financial Year. International passenger numbers for the month of Aug-2011 decreased by 19.7% over the previous year, driven by the Group's withdrawal from the New Zealand domestic market in Oct-2010. Revenue load factor was down 3.6 points from the previous year following the restructure of the international network," Company statement. Source: Virgin Blue Holdings, 07-Oct-2011.