NEW YORK, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Continental Airlines (CAL.N:
Quote,
Profile,
Research),
the No. 4 U.S. carrier, said on Wednesday its load factor -- the percentage of seats filled by paying passengers -- rose 2 percentage points from a year ago to 79.3 percent, setting a record for October.
The airline said revenue per available seat mile increased between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent for October, as demand remained strong in the traditionally weak month for air travel.
Growth looked likely to have improved a little from September, when tighter security measures kept some travelers at home. In September, revenue per available seat mile, or unit revenues, grew 4.8 percent over the same month a year before.
Continental's revenue passenger miles, or traffic, rose 9.5 percent to 7.3 billion, while available seat miles, a measure of capacity, rose 6.8 percent to 9.2 billion, the Houston-based carrier said.
Continental, one of the few traditional airlines to be adding capacity, is usually the first major carrier to report monthly operational figures, serving as a barometer for industry performance.
