United Sees Decrease in August Load Factor

United Airlines announced operational results for August 2015.  The carrier’s consolidated traffic, capacity, and load factor for the month were all up year-over-year.

The airline’s CEO as well as two top executives were forced out earlier this week as a result of a federal investigation into the airline’s dealings with the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that operates New York-area airports.

Total traffic for the Chicago-based airline during the month of August was 19.832 billion RPMs, or revenue passenger miles, an increase of 1.5% from 19.54 billion RPMs in August 2014.  The carrier’s total capacity for the month was up 2.3%, to 22.901 billion ASMs, or available seat miles, from 22.38 ASMs last August.

Meanwhile, United’s consolidated load factor decreased slightly, down 0.7 percentage points to 86.6% from 87.3% in August 2014.

In terms of international traffic, United saw a rise of 3.5%, while its international capacity increased by 4.5%.  The carrier also saw a 2.7% increase in domestic revenue passenger miles, with a 3.3% increase in domestic available seat miles.

Mainline RPMs increased 3.1% with an increase of 4% in mainline ASMs, while regional RPMs decreased 9.6% with an 8.6% decrease in regional ASMs.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)