Planes only slightlyless crowded

The nation’s biggest carriers have come out with their traffic results for July, and the numbers show a continuing decline in domestic air travel – and in domestic capacity, as the airlines continue to scale back their operations. At American Airlines, for instance, domestic revenue passenger miles in July were down 5.3 percent from the same month a year ago, while capacity fell 3 percent; domestic load factor (percentage of seats occupied) was off 2.1 points to 87.3 percent. For the first seven months of 2008, American’s domestic traffic fell 4.5 percent. At United, revenue passenger miles within North America declined 7.2 percent during January-July this year vs. the same period a year ago, as capacity fell 5.2 percent and the load factor was off almost 2 points to 82.7 percent for the seven-month period. Delta’s domestic traffic for the first seven months of the year decreased by 3.9 percent, but capacity fell by 4.3 percent and the load factor thus rose fractionally to 82.8 percent. At US Airways, domestic traffic dropped by 3.1 percent during the seven-month period vs. last year, while capacity fell 3 percent and load factor was unchanged at 81.8 percent. Even Southwest Airlines posted a decline of 2.3 percent in domestic traffic for July compared with the same month a year ago, although for the first seven months of 2008, Southwest is showing a 5 percent gain in traffic. The biggest airline schedule cuts are coming this fall; the question for travelers will be whether passenger traffic falls off as much as capacity. If not, look for even more crowded aircraft.