April 2010 Archives

Despite decline in its flying capacity, American Airlines' traffic increased 2.5 percent in March over the same month in 2009. And while American doesn't estimate revenues in its monthly traffic, US Airways said Monday that its March passenger unit revenues soared 18 percent over a year earlier.

US Airways Group Inc. said its passenger unit revenue, the amount it takes in for each seat flown a mile, rose about 18% from a year earlier in March, adding to evidence that the industry is recovering from last year's recession-induced plunge in travel demand.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that March 2010 international scheduled air traffic showed continued strengthening of demand. Compared to March 2009, passenger demand was up 10.3%, while cargo demand grew 28.1%. Both are improvements from the 9.0% and 26.3% growth for passenger and freight demand recorded in February.

UAL, the parent company of United Airlines, reported better than expected results Tuesday on a mix of heightened fares and increased travel.

Alaska Air Group Inc., parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, reported first-quarter net income of $5.3 million compared with a loss of $19.2 million, or a loss of 53 cents per share a year earlier. The company said it’s the best first quarter since 1999.

Southwest Airlines today reported a first quarter 2010 net income of $11 million compared to a net loss of $91 million for first quarter 2009.

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, today reported that passenger revenue, based on a sample group of carriers, rose 15.4 percent in March versus the same month in 2009, marking the third consecutive month of revenue growth.

Allegiant Travel Co., parent of Allegiant Air, reported $22.6 million in net income for the first quarter. Operating revenue was up 19.4% to $169.6 million. Average aircraft in operation increased by seven to 46, lifting seat capacity 16.9% from the year-ago quarter to 1.56 billion ASMs while RPMs increased 17.7% to 1.37 billion. Load factor was 88.2%, up 0.6 point, the "eighth consecutive quarter of load factors near or above 90%," Gallagher said.

SkyWest, Inc. reported a 16.8 percent increase in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) for March, while available seat miles (ASMs) increased 11.9 percent compared to the same period last year.  The combined airlines generated 1.63 billion RPMs for the month, while ASMs increased to 2.02 billion.  Load factor was up 3.4 percentage points to 81.0 percent compared to 77.6 percent for the same period last year.  Passenger boardings for March totaled 3,292,598 a 17.7 percent increase from March 2009.

JetBlue Airways Corp. said its March traffic, capacity and occupancy rose compared to the same month a year ago.

The parent of regional carrier ExpressJet Airlines said late Monday that its traffic rose nearly 23 percent in March as capacity and occupancy both increased.

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. said its Pinnacle Airlines subsidiary saw March traffic and occupancy rise in March.

Arbitrator George Nicolau ordered American Airlines on Friday to let 35 American Eagle CJ captains transfer to American and begin training by June according to the Dallas Morning News.

Republic Airways Holdings, today reported preliminary passenger traffic results for March 2010. The Company generated 1.83 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs), a 110% increase from the same month last year.

Delta Air Lines Group Inc. reported Wednesday a 3 percent boost in March passenger traffic despite trailing last year’s pace through the first quarter.

Unit revenue for Southwest Airlines Co. and United Airlines Inc. jumped more than 20 percent in March from a year earlier, giving further evidence that the airline industry is pulling out of its deep decline.

Fourteen ATP flight instructors and graduates from ATP’s Airline Career Pilot Program received First Officer position class dates with American Eagle. ATP extends congratulations and thanks to the 14 CFIs who recently interviewed and received job offers with American Eagle, one of the nation’s largest regional airlines.

American Airlines Inc. said Monday its traffic increased 2.5 percent in March over the same month in 2009. The carrier said its load factor, or percentage of seats filled, jumped 2.6 percentage points to 81.7 percent.

Allegiant Air, which is expanding its schedule of flights from secondary airports to vacation destinations, said Monday that traffic soared 16.4 percent in March.

AirTran Airways today reported traffic for the month of March 2010. The airline's load factor and revenue passenger miles (RPMs) represent new all-time company records for both the month of March and for the first quarter.

After one of the worst slumps in decades, the airline industry in the U.S. and abroad is showing signs of a recovery.

The image of the Big Three auto executives flying in their corporate jets to Washington in November 2008 to ask for billions in federal bailout money may still be fresh in most people’s minds, but the fact is that business jet use has been falling sharply — by double digits — for the last two years.