US Airways says traffic rose in July; higher prices helped boost key revenue measurement

US Airways says July traffic rose

TEMPE, Ariz. — US Airways Group Inc. says July traffic on US Airways and its regional affiliates rose 1 percent over a year ago, but the company expanded capacity even more quickly, leading to a few more empty seats on the average flight.

A closely watched revenue measurement soared again, indicating US Airways is still bringing in more money per passenger during the peak summer travel season.

Including the regional flights, passenger revenue per available seat mile rose about 16 percent compared with July 2009. The company credited higher prices and more demand for business travel — corporate customers tend to pay higher fares.

Continental this week reported the same revenue measurement rose between 21 and 22 percent, further evidence of a gradual recovery for the airlines after two years of heavy losses.

US Airways Group said paying passengers on all its airlines flew 5.92 billion miles last month, compared with 5.86 billion miles in July 2009.

Capacity increased by 1.9 percent, to 6.95 available seat miles, a measure of each seat times miles flown.

With capacity rising faster than traffic, average occupancy slipped 0.8 points, to 85.1 percent for the month.

Traffic on US Airways, excluding the regional operations such as Piedmont, rose 1.1 percent and capacity increased 2 percent.