- The Richest Members of the US Congress
- New Consensus Sees Stimulus Package as Worthy Step
- Black Friday Deals May Not Signal Retail Comeback
- Thanksgiving Week Stuffed With Economic News
- UPS Sets New Rates For 2010
- Wall Street Jobs Slow to Return Despite Record Profits
- Investors to Goldman: Be Less Greedy
- Victoria's Secret Hopes to Rekindle Desire for Lingerie
- 'New Moon' Takes Record $72.7M Box Office Bite
- How Stock Investors Can Play Holiday Travel
- Time Lapse World Series Is A Great Play
- Hirschhorn: Greed...or Fear
- My Top 10 Tech Toys for the Holidays
- iPhone a Better Gaming Platform Than Android?
- May Day For Dendreon
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
- Holiday Tipping: Who And How Much
- Deep Discounts Should Make It a Very Tech-y Holiday
Text Size 
NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Traffic for the top three U.S. airlines slumped in October, but load factors for most of the nine largest carriers rose and the decline in unit revenue showed signs of slowing down. Delta Air Lines' traffic fell 6.5 percent in October versus a year ago.
The world's largest carrier said its load factor, a measure of how full a plane is, rose 1.6 points to 84.2 percent. No. 2 airline AMR Corp's American Airlines and no. 3 carrier UAL Corp's United Airlines also reported traffic declines last month. An FTN Equity Capital Markets analyst said Friday that unit revenue, a measure of profitability, did not fall as sharply in October as it did the prior month, a sign that operating conditions may be improving. "October unit revenue improved sequentially from the prior month," analyst Michael Derchin said in a note. "It now appears that June and September marked the double bottom for the airlines in this important earnings driver." U.S. Airways said its consolidated unit revenue sank 10 percent in October, better than the 15-percent decline it logged in September. For the industry as a whole, mainline unit revenue fell 14 percent in October, better than the 17.4 percent drop in September, according to Derchin. "The revenue outlook continues to show material signs of improvement with continued strength in both close-in bookings and yields," U.S. Airways President Scott Kirby said in a statement. Seven of the nine largest carriers cut capacity in October, typically a strong month for business travel. Shares of U.S. airlines as measured by the Arca Airline index rose 4.4 percent Friday. (Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing Bernard Orr) Keywords: AIRLINES TRAFFIC/OCTOBER (deepa.seetharaman@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223-6125; Reuters Messaging: deepa.seetharaman.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.
The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Print
Email
- Technology can make or break a fortune in the world of alternative energy.
- Many people are facing the holidays with substantially smaller incomes. Here’s how some are adapting.
- Jim Cramer is a proponent of stocks that pay healthy dividends, and here are his top five dividend plays.
- From salt, to lip balm to envelopes, it turns out that bacon flavoring can sell almost anything.
- The homebuyer's tax credit jacked sales for a while, but 2010 is looking weak. Now what?
- CNBC’s technology reporter Jim Goldman guides you through the best gadgets to buy this holiday season.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes