US Airlines' Revenue Trends Improve In October

Traffic for the top three US airlines slumped in October, but load factors for most of the nine largest carriers rose and the decline in unit revenue showed signs of slowing down.

Delta Air Lines' traffic fell 6.5 percent in October versus a year ago. Delta said its load factor rose 1.6 points to 84.2 percent. American Airlines and United Airlines also reported traffic declines last month.

An FTN Equity Capital Markets analyst said on Friday that unit revenue, a measure of profitability, did not fall as sharply in October as it did the prior month, a sign that operating conditions may be improving.

"October unit revenue improved sequentially from the prior month," analyst Michael Derchin said in a note. "It now appears that June and September marked the double bottom for the airlines in this important earnings driver."

Get the full story at: Airwise