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Oct. 07--American Airlines and American Eagle Airlines, its regional airline affiliate, both reported significant increases in passenger traffic in September.
American, which employs 7,000 people and operates 16 flights a day at Tulsa International Airport, flew 10.05 million revenue passenger miles in September, up 5.6 percent from September 2009, on a 4.8 percent increase in capacity. A revenue passenger mile is flying one paying passenger one mile.
American reported September passenger traffic increases in every market it serves: up 11.1 percent in the Atlantic, 8.2 percent in Latin America and 31.3 percent in the Pacific.
American's load factor, the percentage of seats filled, was 80.1 percent in September, 0.6 point higher than the same month last year.
American boarded 6.69 million passengers in September, up 2.7 percent from September 2009.
The carrier flew 156.99 million cargo ton miles in September, an 11.2 percent increase compared with the same month of 2009. A cargo ton mile is flying one ton of cargo one mile.
For the first nine months of the year, American flew 94.44 billion revenue passenger miles, a 2.1 percent increase compared with the January-through-September totals of a year ago, on a 0.3 percent increase in capacity. American had a 1.5 percent increase in passenger traffic in the Atlantic during the first nine months of the year, a 5.9 percent increase in Latin American and a 13.6 percent increase in the Pacific.
American's load factor through
September was 82 percent, up 1.5 points compared with the first nine months of last year.
American boarded 64.8 million passengers through September, flat compared with a year ago.
The carrier flew 1.4 billion cargo ton miles through September, an 18.2 percent increase compared with 2009's first nine months.
American Eagle flew 729.86 million revenue passenger miles in September, a 17.3 percent increase compared with September 2009, on a capacity increase of 12.3 percent.
American Eagle's load factor last month was 71.7 percent, up 3.1 points.
The regional carrier boarded 1.57 million passengers in September, up 2.5 percent from the same month last year.
For the first nine months, American Eagle flew 6.21 billion revenue passenger miles, an 8.1 percent increase compared with 2009's first nine months, on a capacity increase of 7.2 percent.
American Eagle's load factor through September was 72.1 percent, up 0.6 point.
It boarded 14.1 million passengers in the first nine months, a 1.1 percent increase.