American Airlines traffic up 1.6% in January
American Airlines Tuesday said its traffic rose 1.6% in January, while the carrier edged down capacity. American Airlines said total capacity edged down 0.3% in January. Load factor—the percentage of seats filled—increased to 79.7% from 78.2% a year ago. American is benefiting from lower oil prices, which helped drive record profit in Q4. But cheap oil has been a mixed blessing for many airlines. Airlines have added flights and seats that weren’t profitable when fuel was pricier, causing fares to decline. While that can spur US traveller demand, oil’s drop has gone hand-in-hand with a rise in the dollar, which makes tickets on US carriers more expensive for foreign buyers. As a result, unit revenue—the important metric of how much an airline takes in from each passenger flown a mile—has been retreating for the past year.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-02-10/oneworld/american-airlines-traffic-up-1-6-in-january
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American Airlines traffic up 1.6% in January
American Airlines Tuesday said its traffic rose 1.6% in January, while the carrier edged down capacity. American Airlines said total capacity edged down 0.3% in January. Load factor—the percentage of seats filled—increased to 79.7% from 78.2% a year ago. American is benefiting from lower oil prices, which helped drive record profit in Q4. But cheap oil has been a mixed blessing for many airlines. Airlines have added flights and seats that weren’t profitable when fuel was pricier, causing fares to decline. While that can spur US traveller demand, oil’s drop has gone hand-in-hand with a rise in the dollar, which makes tickets on US carriers more expensive for foreign buyers. As a result, unit revenue—the important metric of how much an airline takes in from each passenger flown a mile—has been retreating for the past year.<br/>
