AA, Revenue Up Per Seat, SWA Down

Demand for international travel has boosted traffic and a key revenue measure on American Airlines.  At Southwest, that same metric is down even though passengers are up.

American parent AMR Corp. said Tuesday that passenger revenue for every seat flown one mile rose 1.7 percent in June to a record 14.39 cents.

Fort Worth-based AMR says passengers on American and American Eagle flew 12.46 billion miles last month, up 2.4 percent from 12.17 billion miles in June 2012.

The airlines raised passenger-carrying capacity even faster -- by 2.6 percent. The average flight was 86.9 percent full, down from 87.1 percent a year earlier. Domestic flights were more crowded than last June.

Traffic across the Atlantic declined 1.8 percent. Traffic to and from Latin America rose 10.1 percent. Asia Pacific traffic jumped 12.2 percent.

Southwest Airlines Co. flew more passengers in June but says customers continued to pay less per mile -- a key revenue measure for the industry.

The Dallas-based company, which also operates AirTran Airways, said Tuesday that passenger revenue for every seat flown one mile fell about 1 percent last month, compared with June 2012. That follows a 2 percent decline in May and a 4 percent to 5 percent drop in April.

Passenger revenue per seat mile is considered a sign of pricing power.

Southwest increased passenger-carrying capacity 1.7 percent -- partly by operating longer flights on average.

With traffic rising faster than capacity, the average flight was more full last month -- 85 percent compared with 84.4 percent full a year earlier.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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