All Items Tagged With: "Operating statistics"

Airline traffic outstrips capacity increases in November

As airlines rebuild from last year’s capacity cuts, they’re showing some noticeable increases in flying in the latter part of 2010.

In November, the major carriers increased their flying, in available seat miles, by five percent.

But it appears to be…

Airline traffic outstrips capacity increases in November

As airlines rebuild from last year’s capacity cuts, they’re showing some noticeable increases in flying in the latter part of 2010.

In November, the major carriers increased their flying, in available seat miles, by five percent.

But it appears to be…

American Airlines moves up in on-time rankings

American Airlines ranked ninth among 18 U.S. carriers in on-time rankings in January.

Normally, a No. 9 spot is no reason for celebration. But it marks progress for the Fort Worth-based carrier as it continues a slow climb from the bottom rungs of the ladder.

For three months in the first half of 2008, it finished at the absolute bottom. After the carrier added time to the schedule and took steps to improve the operation, American briefly climbed high in the rankings before dropping back down a year ago.

Since hitting 17th of 19 carriers last June, American has improved nearly every month since then. The one exception was December when it matched its November finish at 10th.

As usual, Hawaiian Airlines topped the list in January, American Eagle ended up 18th. That’s an improvement from its 19th place finish in December, but only because the list was shortened to 18 carriers in January.

Here’s the full DOT list. A flight is considered on time if it arrives within 14 minutes of schedule.

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Continental Airlines cancels smallest percentage of flights among major carriers

Continental Airlines in January cancelled only 0.48 percent of its flights, the best among the nine largest U.S. carriers.

Worst was American Airlines, which cancelled 2.5 percent of its flights.

Among those major carriers, JetBlue Airways diverted the lowest percentage of flights, with only 0.06 percent of its flights sent elsewhere. Worst was Alaska Airlines, with 0.63 percent diverted.

Below is the list of 41 U.S. and Canadian carriers tracked by FlightStats.com.

Hawaiian leads U.S. carriers in on-time arrivals in January

FlightStats.com said Hawaiian Airlines again finished at the top of the on-time arrivals list in January, with 86.3 percent arriving within 14 minutes of schedule.

Best among major carriers was Alaska Airlines, followed by United Airlines. Worst among majors was JetBlue Airways, wih American Airlines second worst.

An interesting note is that Northwest Airlines has finally dropped off the list. With its operating certificate now combined with Delta Air Lines, only Delta’s numbers now show up.

Keep reading for the entire list.

Airlines fill a greater percentage of seats in November

The nation’s nine largest airlines filled 79.4 percent of their seats in November, up 3.6 percentage points from a year earlier.

Southwest Airlines recorded the biggest jump in load factors as it filled 76.5 percent of its seats – 13.3 points higher than in November 2008.

The 76.5 percent, although lowest for the nine carriers, represents a November record for Dallas-based Southwest. The airline typically runs lower load factors than competitors.

Among the nine, only US Airways reported a decline in load factor, down 0.4 points to 77.3 percent.

Southwest also led the group with the biggest increase in traffic, up 11.7 percent. Delta Air Lines registered the biggest decline, down 8.3 percent.

Only AirTran Airways, up 9.2 percent; Alaska Airlines, up 1.3 percent; and JetBlue, up 5.3 percent, reported that they flew more capacity in November than in the same period in 2008. Delta eliminated the most capacity, down 9.4 percent, followed by Southwest, down 7.7 percent.

For a chart of the nine airline’s traffic, capacity and load factors, keep reading.

Traffic: revenue passenger miles, in thousands.
Capacity: available seat miles, in thousands.
Load factor: revenue passenger miles divided by available seat miles.

Less capacity, fuller flights in October for biggest U.S. airlines

U.S. airplanes are getting fuller, even as U.S. airlines are getting smaller, as we see in October’s traffic reports for the big airlines.

The nation’s nine largest carriers as a group saw traffic decline 2.2 percent in October, with capacity dropping even more, down 6.0 percent. Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, under common ownership, are lumped together.

Since capacity fell faster than traffic, the average flight among the nine carriers had fewer empty seats. The load factor averaged 82.7 percent, up 3.2 points from October 2008.

Some other notes:

• The nine carriers as a group reduced their capacity by 4.16 billion available seat miles. That’s more than the combined capacity of No. 8 AirTran Airways and No. 9 Alaska Airlines.

• AirTran and No. 7 JetBlue Airways flew more capacity in available seat miles than a year earlier, with the other seven airlines shrinking in size.

• No. 1 Delta, No. 2 American Airlines, No. 3 United Airlines and No. 6 US Airways reported declines in traffic. No. 4 Continental Airlines and No. 5 Southwest and the three smallest carriers reported gains.

• Only AirTran reported lighter passenger loads than a year earlier. The other carriers reported increases. With an 8.8-point increase to 79.2 percent, Southwest led the group with the biggest jump in loads. But the highest loads were on Delta, with 84.8 percent.

Below, a chart of traffic (in thousands of revenue passenger miles); capacity (in thousands of available seat miles) and load factor (percentage of seats filled with paying passengers).