DALLAS — American Airlines and its regional partner American Eagle saw a slight increase in passenger traffic in May and beat other airlines in a key revenue measure.
AMR Corp., which is operating under bankruptcy protection, said Friday that revenue per mile that every seat flew increased 7.3 percent in May. The company credited solid demand, rising prices and fewer empty seats on international flights.
The AMR gain in revenue per seat mile compared to increases of up to 6 percent at Delta, US Airways and Southwest and roughly flat at United.
The statistic is closely watched by airline analysts and investors as an indicator of the carriers’ ability to raise fares and fill most of their seats.
The increases across the board show how much the airline industry is benefiting from recent fare increases and that travel demand appears to be holding up despite signs of slowing in the economy.
Passenger traffic on American and Eagle rose but barely, up 0.4 percent compared with May 2011 as passengers flew 11.88 billion miles last month. Most of the gain came on Eagle, which flies shorter routes within the U.S. International traffic fell as American reduced flights to Europe.
Planes were a bit fuller — averaging 83.5 percent of seats sold compared with 82.7 percent a year ago — as traffic rose while AMR was reducing passenger-carrying capacity by 0.6 percent.
Airlines reduce capacity mostly by offering fewer flights or using smaller planes. Last month, American cut capacity while Eagle, which uses smaller aircraft, increased its flying very slightly.
“The American numbers look pretty good,” said Ray Neidl, an analyst with Maxim Group LLC.
Neidl said that American’s 2011 results were relatively weaker than other airlines, making it easier for American to post gains now. But, he added, American has helped itself by dropping unprofitable flights and reducing capacity.
Parent company AMR, American and Eagle filed for bankruptcy protection in November after losing more than $10 billion in the previous decade. AMR blamed high labor and fuel costs.
Many analysts say that American contributed to its problems by failing to keep up with United and Delta, which grew through acquisitions and are trying to take lucrative corporate travelers away from American. Delta, which has expanded rapidly in New York, a key business-travel market for American, said last month that corporate-account revenue was up 12 percent in 2012.
AMR, however, says it is attracting more corporate accounts. United’s well-publicized problems in combining the United and Continental reservations systems alienated some United frequent fliers.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
