Malév at the forefront in Europe in the battle for passengers
Malév has made a dynamic start to the autumn. In September the airline upped the number of its passengers by 13% against the identical period for 2008 and achieved a load factor of 80%, which is similarly higher than the previous year. The Hungarian carrier is now increasing more dynamically its passenger number than any other traditional airline in Europe according to the latest European Airline's statistics.
Growth in passenger traffic was significantly higher on flights to markets of particular importance to the airline such as Germany, Italy, Scandinavian states and England. Since April the national carrier has achieved continual growth in its passenger numbers, something particularly unique in Europe currently suffering an economic recession. Malév regularly appears among the top three in airline's statistics in Europe in terms of load factor and passengers. At the latest industry statistic report marks that the Hungarian carrier is increasing its passenger traffic the most dynamically among the European traditional carriers.
"Our new commercial strategy has succeeded in attracting additional passenger segments. We gained market share nearly all routes we are serving independently of low cost and traditional competition. Due to our new corporate programme we have four times more corporate deals in the Hungarian market than before" - said Chief Commercial Officer Karim Makhlouf in an analysis of recent events. He was speaking at a presentation he gave at this year's Business Travel Show in Budapest on 14th October.
During the conference specializing on corporate travel the Chief Commercial Officer also reported that the Malév Corporate Saver campaign also providing benefits to small- and medium-size enterprises has had a favourable reception on foreign markets as well: the Hungarian carrier has doubled the number of its international corporate clients.
Malév is targeting a further increase in passenger numbers in the winter season. The new style autumn-winter campaign features the principal cities in the Malév network along with a unique characteristic for each one, highlighted by creative but non-clichéd concepts and attention-grabbing low fares. The marketing promotion represents the largest campaign the airline has conducted in the past few years offering affordable prices and with dynamic, fresh and stylish advertisements. The campaign enhances the established values of Malév - reliability and quality - with novel nuances as well as a quality and stylish media presence. An integral part of the marketing campaign is so-called guerrilla-activity starting at the end of October, in the course of which Malév communicates using surprising, youthful, unique solutions at several points around Budapest.