WASHINGTON -- The major U.S. airlines were stuffed in August as
many of them filled a record percentage of seats with paying
passengers, but will the airlines have to go hungry by the end of
September?
With monthly traffic reports in from nine major carriers, five
reported their highest-ever load factors for August, and that
includes two who reported their second-highest load factor
ever.
And four carriers reported a traffic increase. But it is unclear
how the load-factor numbers will impact earnings, and whether the
gains will hold up now that summer travel season has ended and
taken its leisure travelers with it.
Here are the details. All figures are compared with August
2002.
• Alaska: Traffic rose 11.9% on a 9.4% capacity hike, for a 1.6-
point load-factor increase to 77.1%.
• American: Traffic declined 1.7% on a 6.5% capacity cut, for a
3.9-point increase in load factor to 79.5%. That's the airline's
highest-ever August load factor, topping the previous best of 78.3%
in 2000.
• America West: Traffic increased 2.6% on a 1.5% capacity cut, for
a 3.3-point increase in load factor to 82.1%. Those were traffic
and load factor records for August, and America West said it also
recorded its highest year-over-year increase in yield in any month
since March 1998.
• Continental: Traffic rose 1.7% on a 2.3% capacity cut, for a 3.1-
point increase in load factor to 82.2%. That's an August load
factor record for the airline. Also, it estimated its revenue per
available seat increased 4% to 5%.
• Delta: Traffic dipped 3.7% on a 7.2% capacity cut, for a 2.9-
point increase in load factor to 80.1%.
• Northwest: Traffic declined 5.2% on a 7.4% capacity cut, for a
1.9-point increase in load factor to 82.6%.
• Southwest: Traffic increased 3.4% on a 2.6% capacity hike, for a
0.5-point increase in load factor to 73.2%.
• United: Traffic decreased 8.1% on a 12.2% capacity cut, for a
3.7-point increase in load factor to 82.5%. That's the second
highest monthly-load factor in the airline's history, topped only
by the previous month's 82.9%.
• US Airways: Traffic fell 5.7% on a 10% capacity cut, for a 3.7-
point increase in load factor to 80.8%. US Airways credited strong
leisure bookings for what turned out to be the airline's
highest-ever load factor for August and the second highest in its
history. But Ben Baldanza, the airline's senior vice president of
marketing and planning, said over-capacity and depressed business
demand means the airline still is not seeing any "significant
improvement" in yield.
Meanwhile, smaller low-fare rivals continued to grow at a rapid
clip. AirTran saw its traffic rise 32.6% on a 19.2% capacity hike,
for a 7.8-point increase in load factor to 77.8%. JetBlue, up 69.6%
on a 67.6% capacity increase, posted a 1.1-point increase in load
factor to an August record 91.6%.
To contact reporter Andrew Compart, send e-mail to [email protected].