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February Airline Traffic Rises: American Eagle and Southwest Reported Strong Double-Digit Growth.

Posted on: Friday, 3 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By D.R. Stewart, Tulsa World, Okla.

Mar. 3--American Airlines, American Eagle, its regional airline affiliate, and Southwest Airlines reported improved passenger traffic in February, company executives said Thursday. American Eagle and Southwest, the nation's leading discount carrier, reported strong double-digit traffic growth last month compared with February 2005. American Airlines, the world's largest airline, flew 9.86 billion revenue passenger miles in February, a 2.7 percent increase from the same month a year earlier, on a capacity decrease of 1.2 percent. A revenue passenger mile is flying one paying passenger one mile. Domestically, American flew 6.63 billion revenue passenger miles in February, a 2.2 percent increase from February 2005, on a capacity decrease of 3.5 percent. Internationally, American flew 3.23 billion revenue passenger miles last month, a 3.7 percent increase, on a capacity increase of 3.4 percent. Systemwide, American's load factor -- the percentage of seats filled -- in February was 75 percent, up 2.8 points from the same month last year. Domestically, American's load factor was 78 percent, up 4.3 points from February 2005. Internationally, American's load factor was 69.4 percent, up 0.2 percent. In February, American boarded 7.13 million passengers, a 2.8 percent increase from February 2005. For the first two months of the year, American flew 20.89 billion revenue passenger miles, a 3.6 percent increase compared with January and February last year, on a capacity increase of 0.4 percent. Domestic traffic was up 2.9 percent in the first two months on a capacity decrease of 1.7 percent, while international traffic rose 5 percent on a capacity increase of 4.6 percent.

Systemwide, American's load factor in the first two months was 75 percent, up 2.3 points from the same period of 2005. Its domestic load factor was 76.9 percent, up 3.5 points from a year ago. Internationally, American's load factor was 71.7 percent, up 0.2 percent. American carried 14.9 million passengers in January and February, up 3.7 percent from the same two months last year. American Eagle flew 637.6 million revenue passenger miles in February, a 21 percent increase from February 2005, on a capacity increase of 11.1 percent. American Eagle's load factor last month was 70 percent, up 5.8 points. American Eagle boarded 1,521,372 passengers in February, an 8.1 percent increase compared with the same month last year. For the first two months of the year, American Eagle flew 1.3 billion revenue passenger miles, a 24.6 percent increase from the first two months of 2005, on a capacity increase of 15.1 percent. American Eagle's load factor in the first two months was 67.9 percent, up 5.1 points from the same period a year ago. The company boarded 3.11 million passengers in January and February, a 10.9 percent increase. Southwest Airlines flew 4.69 billion revenue passenger miles in February, a 17.3 percent increase from the same month last year, on a capacity increase of 8.5 percent. Southwest's load factor last month was 68.5 percent, up 5.2 points from February 2005. Southwest boarded 5.97 million passengers in February, up 10.7 percent. For the first two months, Southwest flew 9.45 billion revenue passenger miles, an 18.1 percent increase, on a capacity increase of 9.4 percent. Southwest's load factor in January and February was 65.8 percent, up 4.8 points from the same period a year ago. Southwest boarded 11.94 million passengers in the first two months, an 11.5 percent increase. ------------ D.R. Stewart 581-8451 don.stewart@tulsaworld.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Tulsa World, Okla.

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Source: Tulsa World

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