American Reports February Traffic Results

American Airlines reported February traffic figures down slightly on last year as it reduced capacity and passenger numbers fell.

The number of passengers carried during the month eased back to just over 14 million, a 2.5 percent fall from the 14.4 million carried in February 2016.

Revenue in revenue passenger miles (RPM) terms dropped 3.3 percent overall, but within that, Regional rose 3.1 percent. Both Mainline and International RPMs fell in February.

It was a similar story on capacity, where total available seat miles (ASM) fell 3.7 percent, but Regional increased capacity by 3.1 percent. Both International and Mainline divisions reduced capacity for the month.

The capacity reduction helped overall load factor edge up 0.3 percentage points to 77.3 percent. Within that, International and Mainline recorded modest gains, with Regional showing static load factor.

For the first quarter 2017 American expects total revenue per available seat mile (TRASM) to be up by approximately 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent, against its previous guidance of between 2.5 and 4.5 percent.