Things in the Sky

Once again, sorry for the rushed posting lately. I have two finals today, wish me luck!

US Airways released its April traffic report and reported a load factor increase of 1.8 points to 84.8 compared to April 2008. That number was helped because the airline cut ASMs more than RPMs decreased. The airline also noted a benefit from Easter being in April this year (it was in March last year), which has probably been helping all the other carriers as well.

Fortunately, US Airways is now releasing revenue estimates like Continental. Consolidated PRASM was down 8-10 percent, but consolidated RASM was only down 4-6 percent. Thank you, bag fees. (Revenue from bag fees and such are usually listed under “other” on the income statements, so they aren’t considered in calculating PRASM).