American Airlines’ traffic fell in December, Southwest’s increased

American Airlines saw a 0.4% decrease in passenger traffic for the month of December.

The airlines total capacity was up 3.7% from 2013, but the load factor fell to 80.4% from 83.8%. When calculating 2014 in whole, the airlines traffic increased 1.1% from the previous year. Additionally, the airline saw 1.3% and 0.3% losses in Atlantic and Latin American flights.

Meanwhile, traffic at Southwest Airlines increased 2.8% for the month of December and annual traffic decreased from 82.8% to 82.7%, which is not that significant. Passenger revenue also decreased.

American Airlines and US Airways are scheduled to merge their frequent flyer programs by Q2 of this year. The combined airline is the world’s largest by passenger traffic, fleet size, and by revenue.

Source: Angela Chen, Wall Street Journal