Delta Sees Increase in December Traffic, Capacity, Load Factor but Prasm is Down

Delta Air Lines announced operational results for December 2015.

The Atlanta-based carrier’s total system traffic for the month was 16.38 billion revenue passenger miles, or RPMs, a year-over-year increase of 1.6%, up from 16.12 billion in December 2014.  Domestic traffic rose 4.8% to 10.2 billion RPMs from 9.73 billion last year, while international traffic fell 0.1% to 6.18 billion RPMs, down from 6.39 billion during the same period of 2014.

Total system-wide capacity for the month increased 0.7% to 19.4 billion available seat miles, or ASMs, from 19.26 billion last year.  The airline’s domestic capacity was 11.98 billion ASMs, a year-over-year increase of 3% from 11.63 billion in December 2014, while international capacity decreased 3.9% year-over-year, down to 7.42 billion ASMs from 7.63 billion during December of last year.

The airline reported an increase in system-wide load factor, with a rise of 0.7 percentage points, up to 84.4% from 83.7% last December.  Delta’s domestic load factor also increased, up 1.4 percentage points to 85.1% from 83.7%, while its international load factor decreased by 0.4 percentage points, down to 83.4% from last year’s 83.7%.

The carrier said that its consolidated passenger unit revenue, or Prasm, for the month decreased by 5%.  Delta attributed the decline to the calendar timing of Thanksgiving, as well as to foreign exchange transactions.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)