Revenue passenger miles at US Airways were down 1.6 percent in September compared with a year ago as domestic travel continues to wane amid the recession.
US Airways Group Inc. reported 4.57 billion miles for the month, down from 4.64 in September 2008, not including US Airways Express flights operated by subsidiaries PSA Airlines and Piedmont Airlines. The September figure also is short of August’s tally of 5.5 billion miles.
The industry measure reflects each mile flow by a paying passenger. The total includes a 6.8 percent drop in revenue passenger miles on domestic flights and gains of 17 and 18.4 percent on Atlantic and Latin American flights, respectively.
Revenue per available seat mile dropped 15 percent when the Express flights are added to the mix.
The Tempe-airline’s load factor on mainline flights also slipped to 79.3 percent from 80.1 percent a year ago and 85.7 percent in August.
US Airways and its short-hop affiliates operate more than 3,000 flights per day and serve more than 200 communities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Latin America.
