BELGIUM. Brussels-based Virgin Express carried more than 2.5 million passengers on its scheduled services last year, +5.2% more than in 2002.
Load factor grew to 81% from 80.7%, which meant each scheduled flight carried an average of 121 passengers. However, Virgin Express said that maintaining this load factor had had a detrimental impact on yields “in the face of extreme competition from other airlines, some of them gaining benefit from illegal support and subsidies”.
This is a thinly-veiled reference to Ryanair’s deal with Brussels-Charleroi Airport, currently the subject of an EU investigation into allegations of state aid to the Irish carrier from the airport’s local government owner.
Including charters and those who booked with Virgin Express but travelled with one of its codeshare partners, the airline’s passenger total remained constant year-on-year at 2.7 million.