us alaska air group traffic 110309
On the homepage
Petters
Out There
Burning
Cameron Coffee
Alaska Airlines flew fuller planes in October as traffic rose and capacity shrank
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on Facebook
Share on Digg
Minnesota business by the numbers
See Minnesota's top earning companies, CEOs and non-profits
More from Business
SEATTLE - Alaska Air Group Inc. said Tuesday that its planes were fuller in October as passenger traffic rose 3 percent at its Alaska Airlines unit while the carrier trimmed available seating.
Alaska Airlines flew 1.46 billion revenue passenger miles during October, up from 1.42 billion in the 2008 period. An RPM represents one paying passenger flown one mile.
Meanwhile, capacity — measured as available seat miles — shrank 1.6 percent to 1.89 billion from 1.92 billion a year earlier. That meant that occupancy, also known as load factor, rose 3.4 percentage points to 77 percent.
For the first 10 months of the year Alaska's traffic fell 3.5 percent to 15.27 billion revenue passenger miles, but capacity fell further, dropping 5.8 percent to 19.36 billion available seat miles. That ratio helped occupancy rise 1.9 percentage points to 78.9 percent.
October traffic at Horizon Air rose 3.2 percent to 203 million revenue passenger miles, while capacity was flat at 277 million available seat miles. Load factor rose 2.3 percentage points to 73.4 percent.
Through October, Horizon's traffic has fallen 11.8 percent to 2 billion revenue passenger miles, while capacity has shrunk 11.6 percent to 2.75 billion available seat miles. Load factor has fallen 0.2 percentage points to 72.9 percent.
Recent Business stories
Atwood Oceanics reports tumbling 4th-qtr profits, sales - November 3, 2009
Atwood Oceanics reports tumbling 4th-qtr profits, sales - Offshore drilling contractor Atwood Oceanics Inc. reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 35 percent drop as its revenue tumbled and companies in its industry faced weak energy markets. More
- 2 charged with running $190M Ponzi scheme
- Petters' jurors go home for the weekend
- China executes 2 for role in tainted milk scandal
- Fed: super-low rates could fuel speculative bubble
- Holiday gift: Amazon-Wal-Mart price war
- Americans gloomy on economy heading into holidays
- 'Good Morning America' cancels Lambert
Blog: Patent Pending
Lights out at U energy conference. Irony police notified.
Just as Lawrence Kazmerski, a top official at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was about to give the keynote address at the University of Minnesota's annual E3 conference at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, the lights went out, bathing the audience in darkness and a deep sense of irony.
Comment on this story | Be the first to comment | Hide reader comments