Delta Sees Increase in July Load Factor but Prasm is Down

Delta Air Lines announced financial results for July 2015.

The Atlanta-based carrier carrier’s total system traffic for the month was 20.91 billion revenue passenger miles, or RPMs, a year-over-year increase of 4.7%, up from 20 billion in July 2014.  Domestic traffic rose 5.3%, up to 12.2 billion RPMs from 11.58 billion last year, while international traffic rose 3.8% to 8.7 billion RPMs, up from 8.38 billion during the same period of 2014.

Total system-wide capacity for the month increased 4.2% to 23.77 billion available seat miles, or ASMs, from 22.82 billion last year.  The airline’s domestic capacity was 13.78 billion ASMs, a year-over-year increase of 5.4% from 13.07 billion in July 2014, while international capacity also increased, up 2.6% year-over-year, to 10 billion ASMs from 9.74 billion during July of last year.

The airline reported an increase in system-wide load factor, with a rise of 0.4 percentage points, up to 87.9% from 87.5 last July.  Delta’s domestic load factor remained unchanged at 88.6%, while its international load factor increased by 1.1 percentage points, up to 87.1% from last year’s 86%.

The carrier said that its consolidated passenger unit revenue, or Prasm, for the month decreased by 3%.  Delta attributed the decline to foreign exchange pressure and lower surcharges in international markets.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)