OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2014. JSC “Aeroflot” (“the Company”, Moscow Exchange ticker: AFLT) announces operating results of the Company and Aeroflot Group (“the Group”) for August 2014 and the first eight months (8M) of 2014.

Passenger traffic in August 2014 totalled 2.37 mln, an 11.7% year-on-year increase. Passenger traffic on domestic routes increased by 36.0% year-on-year in August, driven in part by increased flight frequency on high-demand routes. International traffic declined 4.8% year-on-year in August 2014, primarily due to the Company ceasing to carry passengers under block charter agreements (the least profitable passenger segment) and corresponding optimisation of carrying capacities on international tourist routes. Lower frequency flights to Kiev and the suspension of flights to Donetsk, Kharkov and Odessa as well as reclassification of flights to Simferopol as domestic were among other factors impacting international traffic.

For 8M 2014, passenger traffic totalled 15.68 mln, a 13.9% year-on-year increase.

Revenue passenger kilometres (“RPK”) for August 2014 totalled 6.79 bln, a year-on-year increase of 12.0%. RPKs for domestic and international flights were up 30.8% and 2.7% year-on-year respectively. For 8M 2014, the Company’s RPKs increased 12.3% year-on-year to 44.63 bln.

In the first eight months of 2014 the Company expanded its fleet, including 13 new Airbus A320s, two new Boeing 737-800 and six new Boeing 777-300ERs. The new factory-direct planes contributed to the ongoing modernisation of the fleet, which is now the youngest in the World. In 8M 2014 four Boeing 767-300ER aircraft exited the Aeroflot fleet as their leases expired, and seven Airbus A320 family aircraft were transferred to subsidiary airlines. Changes to the Company’s fleet structure contributed to an increase in available seat kilometres (“ASK”) of 11.0% year-on-year in August 2014 and 12.3% year-on-year in 8M 2014.

The passenger load factor increased by 0.8 percentage points year-on-year in August 2014 to 86.7%. On domestic flights the passenger load factor was 90.5%, and 84.4% on international routes. For 8M 2014, the passenger load factor was 79.2%, unchanged year-on-year.

Flight hours of the Company’s fleet for both August 2014 and 8M 2014 increased by 8.8% year-on-year.

Aeroflot Group:

Total passenger traffic for August 2014 increased 9.2% year-on-year to 3.77 mln. The main factor driving passenger traffic growth was a 26.8% increase in domestic traffic. International traffic for August 2014 was down 4.7% year-on-year, due in part to restructuring of Rossiya Airlines routes and increased numbers of flights of domestic routes (amid higher passenger load factor) and the Company ceasing to operate low-margin block charter flights on tourist routes.

Passenger traffic for 8M 2014 increased 10.7% year-on-year to 23.23 mln.

August 2014 RPKs increased 7.6% year-on-year to 9.84 bln, with RPKs on domestic and international flights up 22.2% and down 0.4% year-on-year, respectively. Aeroflot Group’s RPK for 8M 2014 increased 5.6% to 60.52 bln.

The passenger load factor for August 2014 increased 1.0 percentage points year-on-year to 86.7%. On domestic routes the load factor was 89.9%, and 84.6% on international routes. The load factor was 78.9% in 8M 2014, an increase of 0.1 percentage point year-on-year.

Other events:

In 2013 JSC “Aeroflot” discontinued its dedicated cargo fleet, switching to belly cargo operations. This was the main reason that cargo and mail carried decreased 16.4% year-on-year in August 2014.

On 4 August 2014 Aeroflot suspended flights of Dobrolet due to sanctions imposed by the European Union on the budget carrier subsidiary.