Lufthansa Group Passenger Levels Rise In Oct

FRANKFURT (AP) — German airline group Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Tuesday its October passenger levels rose nearly 30 percent, helped by the inclusion of newly acquired airlines, but warned the market remained difficult.

The Cologne-based airline said it transported nearly 8 million passengers for the month, up from 6.3 million in October 2008. However, the latest results include passenger figures from new group airlines — Austrian Airlines and British Midland — which were not part of the group in 2008.

Lufthansa, Europe's biggest airline by sales, also holds stakes in other airlines including Swiss International Airlines, JetBlue of the U.S., and Brussels Airlines.

Lufthansa said its passenger load factor for October — a measure of how full airplanes are — also improved by 1.7 percentage points to 80.5 percent from 78.8 percent in October 2008.

Freight and mail volume in October, however, continued to be affected by a lack of demand in the downturn.

Lufthansa said it transported 177,500 tons (161,000 metric tons) of cargo for the month, compared with 186,300 tons (169,000 metric tons) a year ago.