Ya'all just keep tellin' yourselves it ain't workin'....yeehaw
Airline stocks dip as passenger demand softens
BY MarketWatch
— 10:50 AM ET 09/07/2010
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Airline stocks dipped Tuesday at the start of the industry's slowest travel period.
The NYSE Arca Airline Index fell 1.3% to 30.25 points, with all but three of its 13 components trading lower. The sector benchmark is virtually flat compared with the end of July, as investors weigh potentially softer demand from cooling economic growth.
"Year-over-year [unit revenue] trends are tracking down sequentially as we enter the fall season and approach tougher [comparisons]," according to a note from Majestic Research.
Shares of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) lost 4%, Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) declined 3.5%, and Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) slipped 2 cents.
U.S.-listed shares of Gol Linhas were flat, while Tam Sa added 1% and Lan Airlines Sa (LFL) jumped nearly 2%.
Airlines began to post their August traffic results last week, with most of the data indicating rising capacity, which could crimp operators' ability to hike ticket prices.
"While [all] of the legacy carriers have been conservative with their capacity plans over the past year and a half ... there is a substantial risk and historical tendency for the carriers to add too much capacity before the market can handle it, which could put [ticket] prices under pressure," said Majestic Research.
September is typically one of the industry's weakest months for demand, as the summer travel season ends with the Labor Day holiday.
Late Friday, American Airlines said its traffic, a measure of demand, rose 3.1%, but its seat capacity increased by 3.2%.
That lowered the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier's load factor, or the percentage of seats filled with passengers, to 84.6% from 84.7% a year ago.
More seats for fewer passengers typically translate into lower airfare and less unit revenue.
US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) said its consolidated traffic climbed 0.8% in August, while seat capacity rose 1.2%. That allowed the airline's load factor to slide 0.3 percentage point to 84.7%.
Unit revenue, which reflects ticket prices, rose about 15%, just slightly below the 16% year-over-year growth in July.
"For the most part, traffic changes appear to be in line with previous guidance, and unit revenue is still up double digits," said Dahlman Rose & Co. analyst Helane Becker, in a note to investors.
Delta (DAL) said its system traffic increased 1.1%, while its seat capacity rose 1.2%, leaving the Atlanta carrier's load factor flat at 86.5%.
Like American Airlines, Delta (DAL) did not release monthly unit-revenue results.
Continental (CAL) kicked off the industry's monthly traffic reports Wednesday, posting a 0.4% increase in August traffic while reducing seat capacity by 1.1%. The Houston-based carrier's load factor climbed 0.7 percentage point to 86.5%. Unit revenue increased an estimated 18% or 19% from a year ago, though that was still below July's estimated growth of 20.5% to 21.5%.
Continental (CAL) may soon see new capacity growth, albeit on the carrier's more profitable international routes. On Friday, the company said it would recall all 147 furloughed pilots over the next 18 months. .
United Airlines (UAUA) parent UAL Corp. (UAUA) will release its monthly report later.
Elsewhere, Orlando-based AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI) said its AirTran Airways subsidiary saw August traffic climb 1.7%. Capacity rose 2.1%, leading to a 0.4 percentage-point decline in load factor.
----------------
Southwest Airlines sees August demand growth[/B][/B]
BY MarketWatch
— 9:06 AM ET 09/08/2010
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) said Wednesday its total August traffic rose 6.4% to more than 7.12 billion revenue passenger miles from 6.69 billion revenue passenger miles a year ago. A revenue passenger mile is equal to one passenger flown one mile. Total August capacity rose 3.7% to 8.65 billion available seat miles from a year ago. Load factor, or the percentage of available seats filled with passengers, in August rose to 82.3% from 80.2% last year. During the recent month, unit revenue rose an estimated 15% to 16%. (Adds unit revenue).
----------
That's more than double anybody else.....in this economy General