September 2009 Traffic Numbers

(MoneyWatch)  The September traffic numbers look much better, but wait. We have to remember that last September saw a massive schedule pull down thanks to high fuel, so year-over-year comparisons are bound to look better. The ones that stand out to me here are Southwest and JetBlue. Southwest reduced ASMs 7.8 percent but saw an incredible 8.8 percent increase in RPMs. That means double digit load factor growth over what was a pretty miserable September last year. In JetBlue's case, they not only saw ASMs up 8.6 percent but RPMs increase slightly more than that. Can we thank the All You Can Jet promo? Click for definitions.

Airline	ASMs	RPMs	Load Factor
AirTran	7.2%	11.0%	+2.6 pts
Alaska*	(1.4%)	1.4%	+2.1 pts
Allegiant	63.2%	59.6%	-2.0 pts
American*	(6.9%)	(3.5%)	+2.8 pts
Continental	0.5%	7.0%	+5.0 pts
Delta	(6.7%)	(5.2%)	+1.4 pts
Frontier*	(0.2%)	(0.4%)	-0.1 pts
JetBlue	8.6%	9.8%	+0.9 pts
Southwest	(7.8%)	8.8%	+11.3 pts
United	(3.7%)	(1.1%)	+2.1 pts
US Airways#	(0.5%)	(1.2%)	-0.6 pts

*Does not include regional operations

#Only includes wholly-owned regional subsidiaries