Delta Sees Increase in July Traffic

Delta Air Lines announced operational results for July 2016.

The Atlanta-based carrier’s total system traffic for the month was 21.15 billion revenue passenger miles, or RPMs, a year-over-year increase of 1.2% from 20.91 billion in July 2015.  Domestic traffic rose 1.8% to 12.43 billion RPMs from 12.2 billion last year, while international traffic increased to 8.73 billion RPMs, a 0.3% rise from 8.71 billion RPMs last July.

Total system-wide capacity for the month increased 2.1% to 24.28 billion available seat miles, or ASMs, from 23.77 billion last year.  The airline’s domestic capacity was 14.35 billion ASMs, a year-over-year rise of 4.2% from 13.78 billion in July 2015, while international capacity decreased, down 0.7% year-over-year to 9.93 billion ASMs from 9.99 billion during July of last year.

The carrier reported a decrease in the system-wide load factor, with a drop of 0.8 percentage points to 87.1% from 87.9% last July.  Delta’s domestic load factor decreased by 2 percentage points to 86.6% from 88.6%, while its international load factor increased by 0.8 percentage points to 87.9% from last year’s 87.1%.

The carrier said that its consolidated passenger unit revenue, or Prasm, for the month decreased by 7%, reflecting “continued close-in domestic yield weakness, the ongoing supply-demand imbalance in the Transatlantic, and headwinds from the company’s Yen hedge positions.”

(Photo: Accura Media Group)