US Airways traffic falls 4.1 percent in June

TEMPE, Ariz. - US Airways Group Inc. said Monday traffic fell 4.1 percent in June as the ongoing recession continued to curb consumers' appetites for air travel.

The airline said paying passengers on US Airways flew 5.43 billion miles in June, down from 5.67 billion a year earlier. The carrier said its passenger revenue seat mile — a key performance metric for airlines — was down 20 percent last month compared with a year ago, as business travel demand weakened and it made less money overall per ticket. Most carriers have cut ticket prices in an effort to spur bookings.

Capacity at US Airways was down 6.1 percent from a year ago, highlighting the efforts the carrier has taken to offset lower demand. US Airways and other major carriers have scaled back their fleets and replaced bigger jets with smaller ones to make up for fewer passengers.

Occupancy in June rose 1.8 percentage points to 86.8 percent.

For the first six months of 2009, US Airways traffic fell 6 percent. Capacity was down by 6.4 percent compared with the same six-month period in 2008. Occupancy edged up 0.4 percent to 81.7 percent.

US Airways total passengers was down 7.5 percent in the period compared with last year.

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