United Airlines traffic falls 7.5 percent in June

CHICAGO - United Airlines, the nation's third-largest airline, said Monday its June traffic fell 7.5 percent, as an improvement in business at its regional affiliates failed to offset steep dropoffs on most domestic and international routes.

Like other airlines, Chicago-based United has been contending with a steep decline in traffic, especially in lucrative first- and business-class tickets, as the recession curbs travel.

UAL Corp.'s United said paying passengers flew a total of 10.57 billion miles last month, compared with 11.43 billion a year earlier. Excluding a 16.9 percent gain from regional carriers that United operates, traffic fell 10 percent.

United said June capacity was trimmed 8 percent year-over-year. Capacity cuts can mean airlines removed planes from their fleet or downsized to better align the size of their jets with the number of passengers on a given route.

The carrier's load factor, an industry measurement of occupancy, rose 0.5 percentage points to 85.9 percent.

In the first six months of this year, paying passengers flew 55.31 billion miles, an 11.2 percent decline from a year earlier. Capacity was down 10.1 percent compared with the first half of 2008.

Occupancy rose 0.7 percentage points to 82.7 percent.

Shares rose 3 cents to close at $3.34.

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