US Airways January traffic falls 1.3 percent, while unit revenue rose

US Airways January traffic down 1.3 percent

TEMPE, Ariz. — US Airways Group Inc. said Wednesday that January traffic fell 1.3 percent across its system, although it collected more money from the passengers it flew.

US Airways said it flew 4.44 billion revenue passenger miles on its own planes and on regional carriers it hires. Traffic on US Airways’ own planes fell 1.4 percent to 4.29 billion revenue passenger miles, or one passenger flown one mile.

Domestic traffic, which makes up most of US Airways flying, was down 4 percent. Atlantic traffic rose 6.8 percent and traffic to Latin America was up 13.1 percent, as swine flu worries receded.

US Airways capacity, measured as available seat miles, fell 0.6 percent to 5.96 billion, compared to January 2009. Occupancy, or load factor, fell 0.6 percentage point to 74.4 percent.

The airline said it collected about 2 percent more passenger revenue per available seat mile.

“Looking forward, the encouraging revenue momentum we saw in late 2009 has carried into 2010 in both corporate revenue and booked yields,” President Scott Kirby said.

US Airways shares fell 4 cents to $5.92 in morning trading.