Airlines & Routes

LAN Airlines reported that traffic for March decreased 8.2% as capacity declined 4.1%. As a result, the Company’s load factor decreased 3.2 points to 72.9%. March 2010 traffic was affected by flight cancellations due to the shutdown of the Santiago International Airport as a result of the earthquake that affected Chile on February 27, 2010.

Norwegian reported that total passenger traffic increased by 38% compared to the same period in 2009, total capacity increased by 34 % and the load factor was 78%, up 3 p.p.

Air France/KLM released that traffic increased by 4.7% in March while capacity was reduced by 1.9%, enabling the load factor to rise by 5.0 points to 80.5%. All networks saw an increase in traffic and load factor. The group carried 5.9 million passengers (+3.6%).

British Airways reported that March 2010 traffic fell by 11.4% compared to March 2009. Capacity was down 13.7% and the load factor increased 2.0 points versus last year, to 74.7%. Traffic comprised a 7.2% decrease in premium traffic and a 12.2% decrease in non-premium traffic. Both traffic and capacity were affected by the strike action

Ryanair reported that traffic in March 2010 increased 13% compared to the same period in 2009 while the load factor for the month was up 2 pts to 79%.

For the month of March, Air Canada reported a system load factor of 82.1% on a consolidated basis with Jazz, versus 80.7% in March 2009, an increase of 1.4 percentage points. System traffic increased 9.6% on a capacity increase of 7.7% system wide.

Southwest Airlines released that March 2010 traffic increased 0.4% from March 2009, capacity decreased 4.2% and the load factor for the month was 81.0% compared to 77.3% for the same period last year.

US Airways Group announced March 2010 traffic results. Mainline traffic was down 0.1% versus March 2009. Mainline capacity was down 1.7% versus March 2009 and the load factor for the month of March was 83.2%, up 1.3 points versus March 2009.

American Airlines reported a March load factor of 81.7%, an increase of 2.6 points versus the same period last year. Traffic increased 2.5% and capacity decreased 0.7% year over year.

WestJet announced March traffic results with a load factor of 83.8% up 1.9 pts.Traffic increased 10.0% year over year, and capacity grew 7.4% over the same period. The airline flew an additional 94,000 guests in March 2010 compared to March 2009.