photograph courtesy of michalp

Last month we reported on SkyEurope’s continuing growth, comparing the Slovak low-cost carrier’s passenger and load factor growth to Ryanair’s. (For the uninitiated, load factor designates the percentage of passengers versus available seats.) In January, SkyEurope increased its passenger numbers by 38.1% and its load factor by 10.3% against January 2006 numbers, while Ryanair managed a 23% passenger increase and a 3% decrease in load factor, also against January 2006.

In February this trend continued. SkyEurope recorded a 39.5% increase in passengers flown and an 11.1% increase in load factor, against February 2006 numbers. Again, these numbers compare favorably to Ryanair’s. The Irish low-cost carrier increased passenger numbers by 24% while experiencing another decrease in load factor: this one by just 1%, an improvement over January’s 3% decrease.

Obviously, Ryanair is flying far more passengers than SkyEurope, but the latter’s growth continues to impress us. We look forward to seeing their route map expand. We’re hoping that the rumors are correct and that we’ll soon be seeing routes from Bratislava and other hubs to destinations in Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

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We’re tired of apologizing for blogging incessantly about Sky Europe. You show us a low-fare airline with better fares and more exciting base airports and we’ll back off, we swear.

What you got? Yeah, that’s what we thought.

This week our favorite Slovak airline announced 555,555 flights for €5 apiece. The occasion? The airline’s fifth anniversary. This giveaway comes at a great time for budgeteers to book flights in and out of Vienna, the airline’s new hub. That taxes and surcharges pump one-way fares up to €38 or so doesn’t exactly rain on the low fares parade.

Flights can be booked through Sunday for flights between March 1 and October 27. As of our final fare check minutes before this posting, there are plenty of remaining €5 flights to purchase.

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