United Continental November traffic up 4.8 percent

CHICAGO — United Continental Holdings Inc. said the combined traffic of both United and Continental airlines rose 4.8 percent in November.

The airlines, which are still operating as separate companies, said late Tuesday they flew paying passengers 16.15 billion miles last month, compared with 15.4 billion miles a year earlier.

The airlines' combined number of available seats, or capacity, rose 4.1 percent. Their load factor, or occupancy rate, rose marginally — 0.5 percentage points to 80.9 percent.

So far this year, traffic is up at both airlines by 3.7 percent. Their capacity increased by just 1 percent in the first 11 months of this year, compared with the same period last year. Planes were slightly fuller, with occupancy up 2.1 percentage points to 83.3 percent.