December 2005 Traffic

AirTran Airways

Alaska Air Group

American Airlines

Continental Airlines

Delta Air Lines

Frontier Airlines

JetBlue Airways

Northwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines

United Airlines

U.S. Airways (scroll down to traffic)

December was a good month overall for airlines as holiday traffic was up, possibly as money which wasn't spent at retailers was spent on travel. The retailers had a mediocre season while the airlines had a great one, especially with the demise of Independence Air. Load factors were up at most airlines, but ASMs and RPMs were a different story. At some airlines, such as United, ASMs decreased but RPMs actually increased resulting in significantly higher load factors. At others, such as Northwest, ASMs and RPMs were both down, but load factors were still up. Even at carriers such as JetBlue, which saw increases in both RPMs and ASMs due to expansion, particularly with the new E-190s load factors were up. This is all good news, and with one fewer airline in the skies as of Friday, things will be better, however January and February are usually some of the slowest months, and depending on the direction of fares, fuel, and weather, load factors will likely be up, but nothing to cheer about. As fuel went down in the final months of 2005, airlines passed some of the savings onto customers, and if fuel stays at relative lows, and fares follow, traffic could increase, especially in key winter tourism markets, particularly Florida and California (no not Aspen). Anything can change in this business, however, and that's what makes it so interesting. Stay tuned...