Delta Air Lines carried 12.49m passengers last month, 7.5% fewer than in December 2008, taking its 2009 total to 161.05m, down 6.2%.
December traffic in revenue passenger miles declined by 7.5%, on capacity in available seat miles 8% lower year-on-year, which resulted in a 0.4 percentage point rise in load factor to 81.2%. Atlantic loads jumped 6.4pp to 83.3%.
The carrier’s annual traffic was 6.8% behind 2008, on a capacity cut of 6.4%, depressing load factor by 0.4pp to 82%. Atlantic loads averaged 81.1% (+0.9pp) across 2009.
Elsewhere American Airlines reported a 2.8% decline in December passenger numbers to 7.08m, with traffic decreasing by 1.6%. Capacity dropped 3.3%, which helped boost load factor by 1.4pp to 80.6%. Atlantic loads were up 4.7% at 83.2%.
In 2009 AA boarded 85.72m passengers, down 7.6% year-on-year. Traffic declined by 7.1% and capacity by 7.2%, resulting in a 0.1pp improvement in load factor to 80.7%. Atlantic loads slipped 0.2pp to 78.4% last year.
Southwest Airlines saw an increase of 3.7% to 7.03m revenue passengers last month, taking its 2009 total to 86.31m (-2.5%).
December traffic rose by 3%, while capacity was reduced by 5.8%, resulting in a 6.5pp jump in load factor to 76.2%. Annual traffic increased by 1.3% on capacity down 5.1%, pushing load factor up 4.8pp to 76%.
Passenger numbers at United Airlines dropped 1.5% to 6.44m in December, although traffic remained flat. Capacity was cut by 3.1%, helping to lift overall load factor by 2.5pp to 81.9%, with Atlantic loads up 5pp at 84.9%.
United’s annual passenger total fell 5.8% to 81.42m, with traffic down 6.5%. However, capacity was 7.4% lower than in 2008, so load factor improved by 0.8pp to 81.2%. Atlantic loads were near flat (+0.1pp) at 81.4%.
Continental Airlines carried 5.29m passengers in December, up 1.8% year-on-year, which took its 2009 total to 62.81m (-5.8%).
December traffic grew by 6% on capacity up just 2.1%, boosting load factor by 3.1pp to 83%. Transatlantic loads were 8.8pp ahead at 84.3%.
Annual traffic fell by 3.8% and capacity by 5.2%, lifting overall load factor by 1.2pp to 81.4%, with transatlantic loads up 2.6pp at 79.7%.
December passenger numbers at US Airways fell by 7.4% year-on-year to 4.01m. Traffic declined by 3.6% and capacity by 2.4%, with load factor down 1pp at 79.3%. Atlantic loads, however, improved by 4.1pp to 76.9%.
The airline’s 2009 numbers slipped 6.9% to 51.02m, with traffic falling 4.4%. Capacity was cut by 4.6%, lifting load factor by 0.1pp to 81.8%. At 77.9%, Atlantic loads were 0.3pp higher than in 2008.
Finally, JetBlue reported a 6.4% jump in December passenger numbers to 1.96m. Traffic increased by 7.5% and capacity by 6.6%, pushing load factor up 0.6pp to 80%.
The airline carried 22.45m passengers last year, 2.4% more than in 2008, although traffic dropped 0.4%. Capacity expanded by 0.4%, resulting in a 0.7pp fall in load factor to 79.7%.
See also:
European airline traffic Dec/FY09 (07/01/2010)