Southwest Traffic Up, But Load Factors Drop; American's Just Down

Cross-metroplex rivals Southwest Airlines and American Airlines each posted their June passenger numbers Thursday, and each tells the "tale" of that carrier's respective fortunes.

Dallas-based Southwest flew 6.9 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in June 2008, according to a company release. That represents a 0.7 percent increase from the 6.8 billion RPMs flown in June 2007. Available seat miles (ASMs) also increased, by 5.7 percent to 8.8 billion from the June 2007 level of 8.3 billion.

The carrier's load factor dropped noticeably, however, falling to 78.2 percent, compared to 82.1 percent for the same period last year.

For the second quarter 2008, Southwest flew 19.8 billion RPMs, compared to the 19.0 billion RPMs recorded for the same period of 2007, an increase of 4.2 percent. Available seat miles increased 5.4 percent to 26.3 billion from the second quarter 2007 level of 25.0 billion. The second quarter 2008 load factor was 75.2 percent, compared to 76.1 percent for the same period last year.

Just down Highway 114 in Fort Worth, American Airlines reported a June load factor of 85.5 percent, a decline of 1.7 points versus the same period last year. Traffic decreased 3.1 percent and capacity decreased 1.2 percent year over year, due to the airline's capacity-cutting measures.

Fewer passengers are flying, too. American's domestic traffic decreased 4.7 percent year over year on 2.8 percent less capacity. International traffic decreased by 0.1 percent relative to last year, even as American increased capacity on overseas flights of 1.6 percent.

American boarded 8.4 million passengers in June.

American's regional subsidiary, American Eagle, reported its numbers separately... which was probably helpful for the mainline carrier, as the regional's depressing figures would have dropped its numbers even further.

American Eagle reported a June load factor of 75.1 percent, down 5.2 points compared to the same period last year. Traffic fell 8.6 percent year over year as capacity decreased 2.3 percent. American Eagle boarded a middling 1.8 million passengers in June.

FMI: www.southwest.com, www.aa.com