Delta traffic down as AirTran's rises

[haze]

From today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Delta traffic down as AirTran's rises

Staff and news services
Published on: 01/06/06

The final month of 2005 saw passenger traffic fall at Delta Air Lines but soar at discount competitor AirTran Airways.

Atlanta-based Delta said traffic fell in December, but that it also filled more of its seats. Delta reported that revenue passenger miles dropped 2.7 percent vs. the same month a year earlier, as it chopped capacity by 5.1 percent.

The carrier said it filled 75.3 percent of its seats in the month, up 1.8 points from a year earlier.

Domestic traffic and capacity, which accounts for the bulk of Delta's business, fell 5.4 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively. International traffic rose 6.4 percent on a 7.6 percent addition to capacity.

But for AirTran, the biggest airline after Delta at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, passenger traffic rose 22.1 percent in December and 33.4 percent for all of 2005, compared with the same periods a year earlier.

Seat capacity for Orlando-based AirTran was up 23.9 percent in December and 28.3 percent for the year. December load factor, or percentage of seats filled, fell to 70 percent from 71 percent in the same month of 2004.[/b]