Airlines & Routes

Virgin Atlantic will launch a direct weekly service between Manchester and St Lucia from Thursday 16 November 2006. The new service to St Lucia will be operated by a Boeing 747-400.

Midwest Air scheduled service traffic increased by 49.8% in November to 274,452 RPMs. Capacity increased by 49.5% to 390,919 ASMs resulting in a load factor of 70.2% (+0.1%). Year to date scheduled service traffic increased by 32.5% while capacity increased by 16.2% with a load factor of 72.3% (+7.7 points).

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. reported for November 2005 434 million revenue passenger miles (RPMs), a 52.1% increase over the same month last year, while available seat miles (ASMs) increased to 632.5 million, a 52.2% increase. Load factor was 68.5% versus 68.6% in November 2004. A total of 778,845 passengers were carried during the month, a

WestJet’s November 2005 revenue passenger miles climed by 29.3% to 604.2 million, up from 467.2 million in November 2004. Year to date, RPMs increased 28.1% to 7,220.6 million from 5,636.3 million in the same period in 2004. Available seat miles (ASMs) grew 5.2% to 840.3 million in November 2005, up from 798.7 million in November

United Airlines reported its preliminary traffic results for November 2005. The company reported its highest-ever November passenger load factor of 79.9 percent. Total scheduled revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increased in November by 1.9 percent on a capacity decrease of 2.9 percent in scheduled available seat miles (ASMs) compared to the same period in 2004.

US Airways Group’s reported for November 2005 4,921,838 RSM (-6%), 6,544,528 ASM (-7.4%) and a load factor of 75.2% (+1.1 points). Year to date traffic (in RSM) increased by 2.7% to 61,795,662 RSM while capacity grew by 1.6% to 80,841,286 ASM. Year to date load factor improved by 0.7 points to 76.4%.

In November 2005, passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, was 3.6 per cent above November 2004. Traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, was higher by 6.3 per cent. This resulted in a passenger load factor up 1.9 points versus last year, to 73.2 per cent. The increase in traffic comprised a 12.0 per cent

Continental Airlinesreported a November consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 78.7 percent, 1.7 points above last year’s November consolidated load factor. The carrier reported a mainline load factor of 79.0 percent, 1.4 points above last year’s November mainline load factor, and a domestic mainline load factor of 81.2 percent, 3.7 points above November 2004.

United Airlines strengthens its commitment to the Washington, D.C., community with a service boost at its Dulles hub, introducing new routes and increased service to 10 domestic U.S. and nine international destinations. Service start dates range from November 2005 through May 2006.

Qantas announced that it would increase the number of services it operates to New York from three to five per week from 27 February 2006. The Executive General Manager of Qantas, Mr John Borghetti, said the addition of two extra services each week, operating from Sydney via Los Angeles, would provide customers with additional choices