US. US airlines posted almost a +10% gain in unit revenues or revenue per available seat mile in April across their networks, mostly driven by another strong performance in international routes.
The revenue per available seat mile, also known as RASM, rose +9.7% system wide from April 2003, according to Wall Street analysts who received the data this week. US airlines report the data to the trade body Air Transport Association (ATA), which does not release the figures publicly.
Internationally, unit revenues rose +27.4% and domestically, they rose +5.2 %, according to analysts.
Passenger traffic on discount airline JetBlue rose +43% in April; American Airlines was up +16% and Northwest +16%. Mainline revenue passenger miles for US Airways increased +13.8% and similarly robust figures were reported for SkyWest Airlines (+32.5%), Frontier Airlines (40.0%) Spirit Airlines (+4.6%) and Delta Airlines (+21.4%). American’s system-wide load factor rose to 74.9%, while Delta’s was 74.4%.
This April, revenue from flights across the Pacific increased considerably across all airlines, rising +66%. But these year-on-year comparisons have to be taken in the context of last year’s SARS outbreak in Asia and depressed travel from the Iraq war.
Despite the gains, major airlines are still having financial problems, worsened by the recent hike in oil prices. Airline stocks have been on the slide due to the oil price fears, for example forcing American Airlines to hike its domestic ticket prices.
Gary Chase, analyst at Lehman Brothers, noted April might have been the end of the improvement trend.
“April data [was] strong as anticipated, but the airlines will face more challenging comparisons beginning in May, especially during the Summer,” Chase said in a research note.
ATA president and CEO James May commented: “Despite some encouraging estimates that traffic levels are likely to return to pre-9/11 levels this Summer, sustained high fuel prices have all but wiped out any chance of a profitable year for the industry as a whole.”
