3 Carriers Report Declines in Passengers

UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, Northwest Airlines Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. reported double-digit declines in passengers during December versus a year ago, but the data provided more evidence the industry is experiencing gradual improvement since September’s lows.

United’s passenger volume for the month was down 18% to 8.22 billion revenue passenger miles, a measure of the number of paying customers that travel one mile. The carrier’s capacity, or number of available seats, declined nearly 20%. That helped improve the percentage of seats filled by one percentage point to 71% compared with last year.

Passenger demand at Delta fell by 10% to 5.88 billion revenue passenger miles. Capacity was lower by 7.3%, while the percentage of seats filled declined by two percentage points.

Northwest, based in Eagan, Minn., said December traffic decreased by 11% to 5.36 billion revenue passenger miles, while capacity fell 12%.