Airlines & Routes

Ryanair’s December traffic increased 11% compared to the previous year while the load factor was stable at 81.5%.

US Airways Group reported December traffic results for 2008. Mainline traffic for the month was down 1.1% versus December 2007. Capacity was down 6.4% versus December 2007 and the passenger load factor for the month of December was a record 80.3%, up 4.4 points versus December 2007.

WestJet announced December traffic results with a record load factor of 80.9% for the month. Traffic increased 12.8% while capacity grew 10.6%. In the month of December, over 90,000 additional guests flew with the airline than in December 2007.

AirTran Airways reported that December traffic increased 2.3% while the load factor climbed 7.1% pts to 79.8%. Capacity declined 6.9% in December 2008.

Continental Airlines reported a December consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 79.9%, 1.2 points above the December 2007 consolidated load factor. Consolidated traffic declined 6.7%, while capacity declined 8.1%.

BA reported that in December 2008, passenger capacity was 3.0% below December 2007, traffic fell by 3.4% and the passenger load factor decreased 0.2 points versus last year, to 76.7%.

United Airlines reported its preliminary mainline traffic results for December 2008. The company reported a December mainline passenger load factor of 79.9%. Traffic decreased in December by 11.5% on a capacity decrease of 12.7% compared with the same period in 2007.

American Airlines reported a December load factor of 79.2%, an increase of 0.4 point versus the same period last year. Traffic decreased 8.2% and capacity decreased 8.6% year over year.

Pinnacle Airlines reported that traffic in November 2008 increased 4.2%, while capacity improved 4.7% compared to the same period last year. The load factor for the month was reported at 76.7%, down 0.4 pts compared to the previous year.

Iberia reported that capacity in November 2008 declined 7.7%, while traffic decreased by 10.6% and the load factor dropped 2.5 points to 77.1% compared to the same period last year.