China Eastern Airlines has posted an 8.8% growth in passenger traffic in December.

Domestic RPKs grew 9.7%, international RPKs rose 12.3% and regional RPKs fell 19.2%, says the Shanghai-based carrier. Regional traffic refers to that from Hong Kong and Macau.

In real terms, the total number of passengers carried in December grew 10.9% to 3.4 million, says the airline.

Domestic passenger numbers were up 11.8% to 2.8 million, international passenger numbers rose 17% to 376,280, and regional passenger numbers fell 13.8% to 146,780.

Capacity, as measured by ASKs, rose 4.2%, says the carrier. Domestic ASKs grew 7.7%, international ASKs rose 0.8% and regional ASKs decreased 19.2%.

The overall passenger load factor grew 3 percentage points to 70.6%. The domestic passenger load factor increased 1.3 percentage points to 71.2%, the international passenger load factor rose 7.2 percentage points to 69.9% and the regional passenger load factor fell 0.01 percentage point to 67.6%.

On the cargo front, overall RFTKs rose 46.5%, says China Eastern. Domestic cargo traffic was up 29%, international cargo traffic grew 56.2% and regional cargo traffic increased 33.1%.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news