Austrian Airlines AG (AUA.VI) Tuesday reported a moderate rise in December passenger numbers, reversing a declining trend, but cautioned economic conditions remain difficult.

While the number of passengers traveling with Austrian Air in December rose 1.7% to 703,300, the accumulated 2009 passenger data showed a full-year decline of 10.2% against 2008, to 9.94 million passengers. The improvement in December numbers was partly due to weaker comparatives a year earlier.

The revenue passenger kilometer, a closely watched industry breakdown measure of profitability, fell 2% in December, and 12.3% in the full year, Austrian Air said.

Austrian Air said its medium and short-haul segment carried 2.9% more passengers in December than a year earlier, while its smaller long-haul and charter segments both lost 5.5% of their passengers.

"The trend in passenger volume has stabilized thanks to the various measures taken. Despite this, our revenues remain under enormous pressure," co-chief executives Peter Malanik and Andreas Bierwirth said.

Austrian Air, the recently acquired Austrian unit of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE), noted a passenger decline of 2.2% in November.

Company Web site: www.austrian.com

-By Flemming E. Hansen, Dow Jones Newswires; +43 1 513 69 22 10; flemming.hansen@dowjones.com