United leads all carriers in annual passenger losses

Delta Air Lines Inc. led the six biggest U.S. carriers to a 2.1 percent drop in December passenger traffic, capping a year in which the recession helped erode travel by 5.9 percent. United, however, saw the year's biggest drop.

An 8.1 percent monthly decline in miles flown by paying passengers at Delta, the world's largest carrier, overshadowed increases of 6.3 percent from a year earlier at Continental Airlines Inc. and 3 percent at Southwest Airlines Co. December traffic also fell at AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and US Airways Group Inc.

The 19th straight drop in combined monthly traffic was tempered as Continental, the fourth-biggest carrier, posted its best unit revenue results in 11 months, with a decline of no more than 5.5 percent. Southwest, the largest low-fare airline, said revenue from each seat flown a mile rose for a fourth straight month.

"There is still some difficulty with pricing in the trough periods," Hunter Keay, a Baltimore-based analyst for Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said today in an interview. "Pricing is still fragile at this period. It's going to be a gradual recovery."

Among the six largest carriers, full-year traffic rose only at Southwest.

The following table shows the largest U.S. airlines, ranked by traffic, and their December gain or decline in miles flown by paying passengers on their main jet operations. The figures are from the carriers' reports.

Air traffic

Airline

Percentage gain (loss) in Dec. traffic

Percentage gain (loss) in full-year traffic

Delta

(8.1)

(7.7)

American

(1.6)

(7.1)

United

(2.1)

(8.7)

Continental

6.3

(3.6)

Southwest

3.0

1.3

US Airways

(3.6)

(4.4)

Total

(2.1)

(5.9)