от atzah » 30 Юли 2009 14:50
PRESS RELEASE
Malév increases traffic
Eight percent more passengers travel with the Hungarian flag carrier in Q2
Thanks to Malév’s new commercial strategy, the airline’s passenger traffic once again began to rise from April.
Despite the reduction in turnover characteristic of the industry in the current economic recession, Malév registered growth of 8% in its traffic in the second quarter of 2009. The Hungarian carrier is one of only a few European airlines capable of increasing passenger numbers.
At the beginning of this year Malév established its commercial strategy on new foundations, focusing on the airline’s key markets, promotions aimed at new passenger segments, exploiting the network model and boosting market share as well as load factor. The airline has invigorated sales and marketing with several new commercial tools; it is now present on the market with a new fare structure that represents a constant stream of highly competitive offers for competitors, including low-cost airlines; it has doubled the marketing budget; it runs regular online campaigns; it has introduced a new online reservation system; it has developed the ‘Corporate Saver’ programme specifically for corporate clients and introduces package fares with hotels, supermarkets and tour operators.
“Our new proactive commercial policy has proved effective even in the middle of the economic downturn. In April, Malév was able to turn around the trend in falling turnover generally typical of European network airlines and it has upped its passenger numbers. This growth did not stop in May or during the summer, meaning that in the months of April, May and June there was an average increase of 8% in the number of Malév passengers against the previous year. In the first three weeks of July the level of traffic growth was 7%. We are also happy that we managed to increase our market share in Hungary with 3.2% in the second quarter of the year. Reservation data also show an upward trend in the coming months.” – said Karim Makhlouf Chief Commercial Officer at a press conference in Budapest the 28th of July.
Malév is particularly concentrating on those markets of crucial importance from the point of view of passenger numbers and revenue, in other words, those destinations that until now have generated the most customers and greatest revenue for the carrier. The most important routes are primarily West and North European cities such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Madrid, Brussels and Frankfurt. Besides these, the Athens, Bucharest and Tel Aviv services also bear considerable significance. Malév is devoting significant attention to these markets besides Hungary and it has amplified its marketing and sales activities here.
Malév has increased its market share in Hungary with 3.2% to 43.4%, which is primarily a result of the increase of the traffic between Budapest and Western Europe, as well as between destinations in Northern or Western Europe and Eastern Europe or the Middle East.
The number of transfer passengers flying Malév has also grown by 15%, proof of the company’s effective network model and the opportunities therein; Malév has an ideal geographic position to be a leader hub-and-spoke airline in the region. Around forty percent of the Malév travelling public make transfers, which is why the airline continues to provide a timetable offering multiple daily connections between East and West, North and South, cementing its status as the hub-and-spoke airline of the region.
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