European and domestic passenger traffic at German airline Deutsche Lufthansa slipped 0.6 per cent last month, reversing growth in previous months as strikes forced the carrier to cut flights.
But Lufthansa posted a 6.2 per cent rise in overall traffic in July, helped by 17 per cent growth at its Swiss unit, fully consolidated since July 2007. The load factor, or portion of capacity filled, eased 0.9 percentage points to 82.9 per cent.
Lufthansa was hit by strikes by ground staff and cabin crew in the last week of July as well as walkouts by regional pilots earlier in the month in a series of disputes over pay.
"At Lufthansa the effects of the strike are particularly noticeable in the Europe traffic region," Lufthansa said in a statement.
"Although capacity still rose by 0.3 per cent, this was considerably less than in prior months due to the strike. (Traffic) dropped by 3.1 percent compared with the previous year, so that the load factor was also (2.5 percentage points) lower at 73.3 per cent."
The group load factor on European and domestic flights fell 2 percentage points to 74.2 per cent in July.
Passenger traffic grew in all other regions, jumping 9.7 per cent on routes to and from the Americas, 8 per cent on Asia/Pacific services and 8.5 per cent on flights to and from the Middle East and Africa, Europe's second-biggest carrier added.
Lufthansa blamed seasonal effects and the strikes for a 7.5 per cent drop in air freight and post at its Lufthansa Cargo unit to 142,000 tonnes. The number of flights fell 18 per cent.
"The Americas traffic region, which is suffering from the economic downswing, was particularly affected," Lufthansa added.
Group cargo and mail, including the contribution from Swiss, fell 5.1 per cent to 162,000 tonnes.
Reuters