A sneak peek into the performance of some airlines at BLR

While most avgeeks have a general idea of how an airline is faring from a certain airport, it is very rare that we get to see specific numbers of Passenger Load Factor and cargo tonnage. In this blog, I will put out a few numbers for certain airlines operating out of BLR. This will give us a fairly decent
estimate of how well these airlines are doing. While we need the yield to numbers to perfectly ascertain the performance of an airline on a certain sector, we will discuss PLFs and cargo tonnage while assuming that yields are above average.

Let's go ahead and check out some numbers now! (All mentioned numbers are for May 2019)

1. British Airways - Historically, BLR has been a good market for BA. At one point in time, they even used to fly their 747-400s to BLR. While they seem to have taken the sector for granted by sending their rickety old 777-200ER, that doesn't seem to have affected passenger numbers.

Average arrival PLF - 85%
Average departure PLF - 94.88%

Average arrival cargo tonnage - 7.25 tons
Average departure cargo tonnage - 13.48 tons

Here, the PLF and the departure cargo tonnage are healthy, which could imply that the airline is on the LHR BLR sector. It would be prudent to note that from January 1st 2020 onwards, BA will be sending their latest A350-1000 to BLR.

2. Lufthansa - They have always looked after BLR well and the city has returned the favour. They send their state of the art 747-8 with first class to the city and the passengers love it!

Average arrival PLF - 91.53%
Average departure PLF - 97.07%

Average arrival cargo tonnage - 10.28 tons
Average departure cargo tonnage - 16.44 tons

Here, the PLFs and the cargo tonnage are great,which could once again imply that the FRA BLR sector is doing well for LH.

3. Qatar Airways - BLR is one of three high density routes for QR in India, the other two being BOM and DEL. Qatar Airways send their 777-300ER equipped with the very well regarded Qsuites. Known for their fantastic service all round, it reflects in their numbers.

Average arrival PLF - 98%
Average departure PLF - 100%

Average arrival cargo tonnage - 13.59 tons
Average departure cargo tonnage - 24.9 tons

These are dream numbers for any airline. It can't possibly get better than this. We can safely assume that QR is doing really well on the DOH BLR sector from the fantastic PLF and cargo numbers.

4. Air France - Air France has always performed reasonably well on the CDG BLR sector. While their catering onboard might be good, their old, geriatric hard product left much to be desired. Most recently, this has changed with AF deploying their refurbished A330-200s on the sector, which should come as a relief especially for business class passengers. AF has decided to upgrade this sector during the winter schedule as well with a 777-300ER replacing the 777-200. This represents a 100 seat capacity increase on the sector.

Average arrival PLF - 91.23%
Average departure PLF - 95.79%

Average arrival cargo tonnage - 7.57 tons
Average departure cargotonnage - 12.94 tons

In the case of AF, both the PLF and the cargo tonnage is good, which leads us to believe the fact that the sector must be doing well.

All the above mentioned airlines carry mostly transit passengers, most of whom are headed to the USA, so much so that Lufthansa's BLR-FRA-SFO connection has earned the nickname 'Bangalore Express'. With Bangalore having the highest yields for the India-US sector, it is safe to assume that the yields for the above airlines are significantly above average as well.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!