US Airways November Traffic, Load Factor Decline, While Capacity Rises

(RTTNews) - Airline operator US Airways Group, Inc. (LCC), which is in a merger with American Airlines' parent AMR Corp. (AAMRQ), reported Wednesday operational results for the month of November. Consolidated traffic edged down 0.8 percent, and load factor declined 5.0 percentage points, while capacity increased 5.3 percent.

The airline said its preliminary on-time performance as reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation was 86.1 percent in November, with a completion factor of 99.3 percent.

"Our November consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) decreased approximately four percent versus the same period last year," President Scott Kirby said in a statement.

The company noted that it expects December PRASM to exceed the high end of its guidance, despite the November PRASM results falling below its expectations due to the timing of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tempe, Arizona-based US Airways' consolidated November traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles or RPMs, edged down 0.8 percent to 5.02 billion from the same month last year. American region traffic declined 2.4 percent, while Latin region traffic increased 10.8 percent, and Atlantic region traffic improved 3.3 percent.

However, consolidated capacity, measured in terms of available seat miles, or ASMs, grew 5.3 percent to 6.29 billion from November 2012. American region capacity increased 3.2 percent, Latin region capacity grew 17.4 percent, and Atlantic region capacity improved 11.2 percent.

Consolidated passenger load factor for the month of November reached 79.8 percent, down 5.0 percentage points from 84.8 percent in the year-ago month. American region declined 4.7 percentage points, Atlantic region was down 5.4 percentage points and Latin region decreased 4.6 percentage points.

Total enplanements in November declined 2.4 percent to 5.08 million from November last year. Enplanements for American region was down 2.7 percent, while it rose 2.4 percent for Latin region, and edged up 0.1 percent for Atlantic region.

US Airways mainline November traffic edged down 0.1 percent to 4.84 billion RPMs from the year-ago, while mainline capacity grew 6.1 percent to 6.04 billion ASMs from November 2012. Load factor was down 5.0 percentage points to 80.1 percent from last year.

Meanwhile, November traffic for US Airways Express, covering only American region and operated by Piedmont Airlines and PSA Airlines, decreased 16.6 percent to 179.88 million RPMs from the year-ago month. Capacity also declined 11.1 percent to 245.37 million ASMs, and load factor dropped 4.9 percentage points to 73.3 percent from the same month last year.

For the year-to-date eleven-month period, US Airways' consolidated traffic grew 4.6 percent to 62.43 billion RPMs from the year-ago period, and consolidated capacity also increased 3.9 percent to 74.02 billion ASMs from the prior-year period. Consolidated load factor for the period edged up 0.5 percentage point to 84.3 percent from the same period last year.

In Wednesday's regular trading session, LCC is currently trading at $22.26, down $0.13 or 0.58% on a volume of 2.10 million shares.