Virgin Blue sees fall in domestic passengers

Virgin Blue recorded a fall in domestic passenger numbers during October, but capacity cuts saw it record a small increase in load factor.

On its domestic services, passenger volumes decreased by 6.5 per cent, while available seat kilometres were down by 5.2 per cent, resulting in a marginal increase in load factor to 84.9 per cent.

Overall, the Virgin Blue Group recorded a fall in passenger volumes of two per cent, while load factor decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 82.2 per cent. For the financial year to date, passenger volumes remain static, although load factor is down by one per cent as the increase in capacity from V Australia countered decreases in Virgin Blue’s domestic capacity.

Despite the data showing falls in traffic, comments from the airline’s chairman Neil Chatfield at the recent annual general meeting indicate that the airline is regaining profitability and now expects to post a profit during the 2009/2010 financial year, up from the breakeven forecast earlier.