AA, AEA report passenger increase

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Aug. 05--American Airlines and American Eagle Airlines, its regional airline affiliate, reported single-digit increases in passenger traffic in July, company executives said Wednesday.

American flew 11.97 billion revenue passenger miles in July, a 2.7 percent increase compared with July 2009, on a capacity increase of 3.1 percent. Traffic was up in every international market American serves in July -- 19.4 percent in the Pacific, 7.8 percent in Latin America and 5 percent in the Atlantic -- although it was down 0.4 percent domestically, officials said.

A revenue passenger mile is flying one paying passenger one mile.

American's load factor -- the percentage of seats filled -- last month was 87 percent, a decrease of 0.3 points from the same month last year.

The Fort Worth-based carrier boarded 8.06 million passengers in July, down 1.2 percent from July 2009.

American flew 162.28 million cargo ton miles of freight in July, a 19 percent increase over the same month last year.

For the first seven months of the year, American flew 72.87 billion revenue passenger miles, a 1.5 percent increase from the same period last year, on a capacity decrease of 0.8 percent. American reported passenger traffic increases in every domestic and foreign market the airline serves in the first seven months of 2010, company executives said.

American's load factor through July was 81.9 percent, up 1.8 points from the same period of 2009.

American

boarded 50.4 million passengers through July, a 0.4 percent decrease from last year's first seven months.

American flew 1.08 billion cargo ton miles through July, a 20 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

American Eagle flew 782.98 million revenue passenger miles in July, an 8.2 percent increase compared with July 2009, on a capacity increase of 10.6 percent.

American Eagle's load factor in July was 76.1 percent, down 1.7 points from July 2009.

The regional carrier boarded 1.7 million passengers last month, a 4.2 percent drop from the same month last year.

In the first seven months, American Eagle flew 4.71 billion revenue passenger miles, a 6 percent increase over the same months a year ago, on a capacity increase of 5.6 percent.

American Eagle's load factor through July was 72 percent, up 0.3 points from the first seven months of 2009.

American Eagle boarded 10.86 million passengers through July, a 1 percent increase compared with the first seven months last year.

D.R. Stewart 581-8451

don.stewart@tulsaworld.com