American Airlines set an October record for the percentage of seats filled, saying yesterday that its load factor last month reached 83.6% despite higher capacity. Last year’s figure was 83.1%. Traffic for the Texas-based airline jumped 5.2% on a 4.6% increase in capacity.
US Airways estimated yesterday that its revenue per available seat mile flown increased 7% in October, with traffic up 6.9% on a 5.6% increase in capacity. Its load factor reached 83.6%, up 1 percentage point and an October record for the carrier.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is the only carrier reporting lower loads than last year. However, it filled a greater percentage of its seats, 84.1%, than any other US carrier so far.
Delta capacity rose 10.9%, with traffic at 9.9%, buoyed by increasing in Pacific traffic, where capacity was up 22.2%.