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Monday, June 7, 2004

Regional Airline Box Scores May Traffic Reports - First Wave (As Of June 3)

 

May trend | Year-to-date trend
May 2004
May 2003
Percent Change
YTD 2004
YTD 2003
Percent Change
Air Wisconsin {United Airlines, AirTran}
UP UP RPM (miles)
240.8M
184.2M
30.8%
1B
805.5M
36.2%
UP UP ASM (miles)
309.2M
232.4M
33.1%
1.4B
1B
36.1%
DN UP Load Factor
77.9%
79.3%
(1.4 points)
73.5%
73.4%
0.1 points
UP UP Passengers Enplaned
555,340
465,366
19.3%
2.7M
2.2M
24.6%
Analysis: In two of the four months of 2004, Air Wisconsin reported a dip in its load factor. However, the privately held regional carrier continues its yearlong streak of posting both traffic and capacity growth in excess of 30 percent.
American Eagle (Unit of AMR [AMR], includes Executive Airlines)
UP UP RPM (miles)
529.4M
405.7M
30.5%
2.3B
1.8B
30.6%
UP UP ASM (miles)
773.5M
622.3M
24.3%
3.6B
3B
21.4%
UP UP Load Factor
68.4%
65.2%
3.2 points
65.5%
60.8%
4.7 points
UP UP Passengers Enplaned
1.4M
1.2M
19.3%
6.8M
5.7M
18.2%
Analysis: Although American Eagle's traffic continues to grow at a rate in excess of 30 percent over the previous year, the rate of growth in both load factor and enplaned passengers has again declined from a peak set in March. Both indexes show growth, just not as a strong of growth. American Eagle again out performed its parent, American Airlines, in all index measures. The mainline carrier posted just 9 percent growth in both traffic and capacity, but it had a slight decline in load factor.
Chicago Express (Unit of ATA Holdings [ATAH])
DN DN RPM (miles)
15.4M
17M
(9.1%)
78.6M
79.6M
(1.3%)
-- UP ASM (miles)
25.4M
25.4M
no change
130.3M
128.2M
1.6%
DN DN Load Factor
60.8%
66.9%
(6.1points)
60.3%
62.1%
(1.8%)
DN DN Passengers Enplaned
86,692
96,704
(10.4%)
442,893
453,828
(2.4%)
Analysis: Chicago Express posted its worse month so far this year. In May the only bright spot was capacity - the carrier essentially broke even on this measure. Chicago Express has posted monthly capacity gains since it recorded negative month-over-month growth in January. Things were so bad in May that the regional carrier's numbers dragged the holding company's indexes down, canceling gains recorded by ATA.
ExpressJet [XJT] {Continental Airlines}
UP UP RPM (miles)
619.6M
486.3M
27.4%
2.7B
1.9B
38.7%
UP UP ASM (miles)
862.8M
695.2M
24.1%
4.1B
3.1B
32.7%
UP UP Load Factor
71.8%
70%
1.8 points
67.2%
64.6%
3 points
UP UP Block Hours
60,830
48,733
24.8%
290,068
222,400
30.4%
Analysis: The indexes for ExpressJet don't show as high growth rates as recorded in April because returning Memorial Day traffic this year will be recorded in the June numbers. Continental compensates ExpressJet based on completed block hours. The gap in 2003 and 2004 block hours has begun to narrow. Last month, the carrier recorded a 34 percent month-over-month gain.
Mesa Air Group [MESA] {America West, United Airlines, US Airways}
UP UP RPM (miles)
464.1M
257.2M
80.4%
1.9B
1B
82.7%
UP UP ASM (miles)
632.1M
395.4M
59.8%
2.7B
1.7B
58.8%
UP UP Load Factor
73.4%
65.1%
8.3 points
69.8%
60.6%
9.2 points
UP UP Passengers Enplaned
932,786
582,216
58.7%
3.9M
2.4M
61.4%
Analysis: The most relevant statistic for Mesa is capacity because 90 percent of its capacity is revenue-guarantee service. For the second month in a row, Mesa reported a near 60 percent month-over-month growth in capacity. And also for the second month in a row, the carrier reported traffic growth that exceeded 80 percent.
( ) Indicates corporate affiliation { } Indicates code-share partnerships Source: Company reports

 

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