Airline Traffic Up in August, but Some Problems Persist

Major airlines Friday reported higher traffic in August, but analysts said the more important measure of how much airlines receive from each paying passenger will probably continue to be bearish, keeping a lid on profits.

Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines had more than a 10%% traffic gain as measured by revenue passenger miles--one paying passenger flown one mile.

But cheap fares, particularly for business travelers, have hurt the airlines.

Figures for yield--what a passenger pays to fly one mile--have declined since April compared to a year ago and will probably be down again in August when all the airlines report their figures, analysts said.

The airlines are suffering from the recession. Even though revenue should pick up in the fall, the gains will not be the customary double-digit increases of past recoveries, the analysts said.

“We remain very concerned with yields, which continue to be under pressure due to the lingering effects of the U.S. recession,” said UAL Corp., United’s parent company.

UAL said it hoped the situation would improve as the fall approaches.