This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. Air Passenger Numbers Almost Flat Last Month December 17, 2002 Airline executives, who are calculating further potential cutbacks in the number of seats they will put into the domestic skies next year, are looking darkly at the latest monthly passenger figures from the industry's trade group. In November, 36 million passengers boarded domestic airlines, just a trace more than the 35.8 million who flew in November 2001, when air traffic was still reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Those figures contrast sharply with November 2000, when domestic airlines carried 43.9 million passengers. As of Dec. 1, the number of passengers is off 6.5 percent this year compared with last year, and 12.8 percent compared with 2000, the trade group, the Air Transport Association, said. Singapore Airlines Wins Singapore Airlines, the perennial winner, comes out again as best overall airline in the annual Readers Choice Awards in Business Traveler magazine's January issue. The rest of the top five were: British Airways, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Cathay Pacific Airlines. In the best international business class category, the top five were Singapore, British Air, United, Delta and American Airlines. The best airports in North America were three United hubs - Chicago O'Hare International, Denver International and San Francisco International - along with Atlanta Hartsfield International and Tampa International. The choices indicate, incidentally, that United Airlines still has a big reservoir of customer good will, even as it struggles through bankruptcy reorganization. New Sleep Seats in Place Continental Airlines said it had finished installing luxury sleeper seats, with 170 degrees of recline and a sleeping space length of six and a half feet, in business class in its 18 Boeing 777 aircraft. Those are the planes on which Continental offers its Business First service on flights between Newark and London, Paris, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong and Tokyo, and on flights between Houston and London, Paris, Tokyo and Honolulu. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/business/17MEMO.html?ex=1041135633&ei=1&en=3c55f43e71efab74 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company