In international aviation reinsurance we similarly rank among the market leaders.

Despite the difficult economic climate in Europe and North America, the situation facing airlines stabilised in the year under review. Passenger numbers picked up slightly, which also benefited the (re)insurance industry. With deliveries of the Airbus A380 “super jumbo” on the rise and the entry into service of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, more and more policies are seeing increases in the indemnity limits purchased by airlines. Primary insurers further raised their retentions on the back of improved capital resources. Although the year under review was notable for a series of basic losses, these did not have any major implications for reinsurers since for the most part they remained within the retentions carried by the insurers. For this reason, and on account of further expansion in reinsurance capacities, the pressure on prices intensified in the course of the year under review.

With this in mind, our goal was to largely preserve the existing market shares and prices. We are a market leader for non-proportional treaties in the airline market, whereas in the proportional sector we write our business opportunistically and concentrate primarily on niche segments. We maintained our involvement in non-proportional reinsurance on a stable level. Gross premium in the aviation line contracted slightly in the year under review.

After the average loss expenditure recorded in the previous year, the major loss experience in the year under review proved to be even better than expected. The largest single loss was an accident during an air show in the United States, resulting in a net strain of around EUR 7 million for our account.

The combined ratio was virtually unchanged at 78.7% (75.3%).