Southwest Airlines Traffic Rises 8.7 Percent
DALLAS (AP) - Southwest Airlines Co. said Friday that passenger traffic rose 8.7 percent in April, topping the results at big rivals, but a closely watched revenue figure grew more slowly than in recent months.
The airline said passenger revenue per available seat mile grew between 4 and 5 percent, compared with April 2010. For the first three months of the year, the same figure rose 8.7 percent.
The figure represents revenue divided by seats times miles flown, and it shows how much an airline is able to raise prices.
Airlines are pushing fares higher to offset rising fuel prices, but the pace of fare hikes has slowed from early this year.
Southwest beat rivals Delta and American when it came to April passenger traffic.
Southwest said paying passengers flew 7.04 billion miles last month, compared with 6.48 billion in April 2010.
The 8.7 percent increase surpassed a 2.6 percent gain at Delta and its regional affiliates and a 2.7 percent increase at American Airlines. Domestic travel -- the only kind that Southwest does -- fell at both Delta and American.
Southwest increased passenger-carrying capacity by 7.5 percent by adding more flights and operating longer flights on average.
The average flight in April was 79.7 percent full, up from 78.8 percent in April 2010.
For the first four months of 2011, traffic rose 11 percent, capacity increased 8.1 percent, and average occupancy rose 2 percentage points to 78.7 percent. The airline carried 34.8 million passengers in the four months.
Southwest shares rose 11 cents to $12.02 in morning trading.
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