Lufthansa Passenger Traffic Rises in First Quarter

German airline Lufthansa said its passenger traffic rose 13.7 percent in March over the same month the previous year, when the industry suffered due to the war in Iraq. Traffic rose to 8.36 billion revenue-passenger kilometers in the month. The number of passengers and cargo carried also rose in the first quarter of 2004 compared to the same period a year ago, the airline said in a statement. Load factor, which measures the average number of seats sold as a proportion of seats available on its flights, rose two percentage points in the quarter to 72.6 percent. "Lufthansa registered double-digit sales increases in almost all sales regions," the statement said, according to Reuters news agency.