Airlines Post Dismal February Traffic Numbers

If you flew onboard a commercial airliner in February, the US airline industry would like to thank you; they also really wish you'd brought along a few more of your friends. This week, all major US carriers posted their traffic numbers for February 2009... and with rare exception, each posted a discouraging downturn in the number of people flying, outpacing capacity cuts implemented over the last year.

"Most Wall Street analysts were quite positive that the airlines would benefit from the dramatic decline in oil prices," industry consultant Julius Maldutis told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "However, that is almost irrelevant given the impact of the recession on traffic."

Delta Air Lines -- fresh off its acquisition of Northwest -- posted combined traffic numbers that decreased 11 percent over February 2008. That decrease outpaced the 7.8 percent cut in available seats over the same period, as the airline grounded planes to reduce the number of empty seats available in a dismal economy.

The news was worse for other airlines. While Delta noted an 11 percent drop in international traffic, that paced the 11.5 percent cut in available seats on those routes. Compare that to Continental Airlines's performance on its trans-Atlantic flights... reporting an overall drop in international traffic of 10.3 percent last month, against a 4.7 percent drop in capacity.

As for domestic travel, Continental posted a 15.8 percent fall in February 2009 traffic numbers, against a 12.6 percent cut in capacity. That was in stark contrast to the performance of intrastate rival Southwest Airlines, which posted a drop in February traffic roughly in line with a 6.5 percent decrease in available seat miles over the same period, as ANN reported Tuesday.

The hits just kept on coming as the week progressed. American Airlines reported a 13.5 percent drop in mainline traffic, against a 10.1 percent drop in capacity. Regional subsidiary American Eagle saw its traffic numbers plummet 13.7 percent over February 2008, against a 9.1 percent drop in available seats.

United slashed capacity by the greatest amount among carriers reporting their numbers this week, with 15.9 percent fewer seats available last month than in February 2008. But even that wasn't enough to fully offset a 17.2 percent drop in traffic. JetBlue saw its passenger traffic fall 8.3 percent in February, against a 5.5 percent decline in available seats.

US Airways, on the other hand, posted a 9.3 percent drop in passenger traffic... and a 9.3 percent drop in available seats, which should at least earn the strategic planners at the Tempe-based airline a free soda or two.

So far, only one airline has actually posted an uptick in February 2009 traffic numbers... niche low-cost carrier Allegiant Air.

FMI: www.aa.com, www.continental.com, www.usairways.com, www.southwest.com, www.jetblue.com, www.united.com, www.allegiantair.com