Swiss International Air Lines carried a record 13.8 million passengers last year, up from 13.5 million in 2008.

German parent company Lufthansa, on the other hand, welcomed 2.6 per cent fewer passengers on its flights: 55.6 million.

Swiss operated 136, 536 flights in 2009, an increase of 1.6 per cent, but seat load factor – how much of an airline’s passenger-carrying capacity is used – suffered a slight year-on-year decline, dropping from 80.3 per cent to 80.1 per cent.

While long-haul passenger-carrying capacity fell slightly from 84.2 per cent to 83.2 per cent, Swiss’s European network registered an increase for the year from 72.1 per cent to 74.1 per cent.

The airfreight business of Swiss WorldCargo benefited from the modest economic recovery seen in the fourth quarter of the year, although cargo load factor (by volume) for 2009 as a whole stood at 70.7 per cent, down from 77.6 per cent in 2008.

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