May 06, 2010

Air Berlin carried 16.5 percent fewer passengers in April than a year earlier after a volcanic ash cloud over Europe led to airspace closures.

"The cancellation of more than 3,500 flights meant capacity of 550,000 seats was no longer available," Germany's second-biggest airline after Lufthansa said on Thursday. Passenger volume fell to 2.07 million in the month from 2.47 million in the year-earlier period.

Load factor narrowed by 3.7 percentage points to 72.6 percent, which Air Berlin said was because persistent customer jitters after airspace reopened led to a slide in bookings.

The spread of ash from an erupting volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland grounded much of European air traffic for nearly a week. Airlines had to cancel around 100,000 flights, stranding millions of passengers.

Industry body International Air Transport Association (IATA) said airlines lost more than USD$1.7 billion of revenue due to the volcano crisis, which will be reflected in earnings for the June quarter.

As the volcano spews more ash, flights to and from Ireland and Scotland faced fresh disruption on Wednesday, sparking fears summer travel could be affected.

(Reuters)

Source: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1273150288.html