UA Says Traffic Fell In February

[CaptJax]

United Airlines says traffic fell in February
AP ONLINE
Posted: 2009-03-03 18:28:00

CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines said Tuesday that its traffic fell 17.2 percent in February, as the downturn in demand for air travel gained speed.

United said miles flown by paying passengers in February fell to 6.75 billion compared with 8.15 billion in the same month last year. Including regional affiliates of parent UAL Corp., traffic dropped 15.2 percent.

The decline in traffic was sharpest on trans-Pacific and Latin American routes, both down more than 24 percent. In North America, the decrease was 13.8 percent compared with a 21.9 percent drop on international flights.

The February decline was much steeper than the 10.9 percent decrease in January compared with January 2008, as grim economic news has piled up.

Chicago-based United is cutting capacity to cope with the slump in demand. Available seat miles declined 15.9 percent to 9.22 billion from 10.96 billion a year earlier. Including regional operations, UAL's capacity fell 14 percent.

With traffic falling faster than capacity, United's load factor or average occupancy slipped to 73.3 percent from 74.4 percent in February 2008. Including regional operations, occupancy slid to 73.2 percent from 74.2 percent a year earlier.

Airlines have been cutting capacity to deal with a downturn in air travel caused by the recession. Many airlines have offered aggressive fare sales to boost traffic in the spring and summer.

UAL shares fell 32 cents, or 7.5 percent, to $3.94. They have ranged from $2.80 to $30.58 in the past year. The shares were at $9 a month ago.

 

[75 Driver]

It really is just a matter of time

I am surprised it has lasted this long.:bawling:

 

[contrail67]

I am surprised it has lasted this long.:bawling:

Matter of time for what....you know any airlines who reported increased traffic for Feb???

 

[GuppyWN]

Holy cow! 17% drop in load factor. I just don't see how you can put positive spin on that.

We're all in a bind right now. I'm ready for spring break and summer loads to return.

Gup

 

[contrail67]

I think that SWA's load factor dropped to 68 or 69%...most airlines loads are down.

 

[GuppyWN]

You mistook my post. I'm not attacking you, or United. I am hopeful that ALL OF US continue to pay our mortgages and have long successful careers.

Gup

 

[contrail67]

You mistook my post. I'm not attacking you, or United. I am hopeful that ALL OF US continue to pay our mortgages and have long successful careers.

Gup

I was just saying that airlines are releasing those numbers and SWA posted lower numbers too...most will post decreased traffic...tough times.

 

[chppr5]

hey guppy, 74.4 to 73.3 = 17% ???????? Higher math I guess.....

 

[GuppyWN]

LOL... there I go doing public math again. 17% drop in TRAFFIC, not load factor.

Thanks for the catch.
Gup

 

[crxpilot]

Matter of time for what....you know any airlines who reported increased traffic for Feb???

Wellll, now that you asked........

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090303/allegiant_traffic.html?.v=1

AP
Allegiant Air traffic rose in February
Tuesday March 3, 12:29 pm ET Tiny Allegiant Air bucks industry trend by boosting traffic in February
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Allegiant Air, which links travelers from smaller cities with vacation destinations such as Las Vegas, said Tuesday that its traffic rose in February, bucking an industry slump.
Allegiant said paying passengers on its scheduled flights flew 331 million miles in February, up 9.8 percent from 301 million miles in the same month last year.
The airline increased capacity 5.2 percent to 367 million available seat miles compared with 349 million in February 2008.
Load factor, or average occupancy, increased to 90.2 percent from 86.4 percent a year earlier.
Including charters, Allegiant's total traffic rose 6.3 percent to 351 million revenue passenger miles, and capacity increased 1.9 percent to 402 million available seat miles. Total load factor increased to 87.4 percent from 83.9 percent a year earlier. Allegiant's traffic is tiny compared with the big airlines, but this week larger brethren Southwest and Continental have already reported declines in February traffic. The Las Vegas-based airline is a unit of Allegiant Travel Co., and it bundles air fares into vacation packages that include hotel rooms and rental cars. Shares of the parent company rose 41 cents to $33.85 in midday trading.

 

[vixin]

Here is the SWA news.

Southwest said miles flown by paying passengers in February fell to 5.1 billion compared with 5.43 billion in the same month last year.
But the airline is also cutting capacity. Available seat miles declined 6.5 percent to 7.39 billion from 7.91 billion a year earlier. With capacity falling faster than traffic, Southwest's load factor, or average occupancy, edged up to 69.1 percent from 68.6 percent in February 2008.

Time for the Allegiant boys and girls to ask for a nice raise.

 

[Skippy]

Q1 will be a loss no doubt and delta will lead that category for sure, but i think Q'S 2 and 3 will be pretty promising.

It seems as though united dare I say it, got the right amount of downsizing correct, no?

 

[jhill]

I think that SWA's load factor dropped to 68 or 69%...most airlines loads are down.

RPMs were down 6% but load factors were up 1% due to decreased capacity.

 

[eaglesview]

This is shocking news. I was sure we had increased our passeger count and load factors as well as capacity. Hmmmm Cue the down on UA folks!!

 

[maxblast72]

The real kicker is what Continental reported for February RASM performance. They gave out a range of -11.5% to -12.5% for the whole system (counting regional). That is a pretty grim number considering the amount of capacity that has come out of the entire system over the last 12 months (10-15% at most airlines).

The lower fuel prices will help, but if RASM continues to drop more this summer as the recession deepens, more capacity reductions will be required to stop the declining RASM trends.