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, Reuters reported.
Delta Air Lines' traffic fell 6.5 percent in October versus a year ago. The world's largest carrier said its load factor, a measure of how full a plane is, rose 1.6 points to 84.2 percent.
Number two airline AMR Corp's American Airlines and number three carrier UAL Corporation's United Airlines also reported traffic declines last month.
An FTN Equity Capital Markets analyst said 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.
US Airways said its consolidated unit revenue sank 10 percent in October, better than the 15-percent decline it logged in September.
For the industry as a whole, mainline unit revenue fell 14 percent in October, better than the 17.4 percent drop in September.
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