=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/09/03/f= inancial1626EDT0262.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, September 3, 2003 (AP) Airline traffic rose in August, paced by discount carriers ELIZABETH SOUDER, Dow Jones Newswires (09-03) 13:26 PDT (AP) -- NEW YORK (Dow Jones/AP) -- Airlines, especially low-cost carriers, continued to fly more passengers in August, showing that the battered industry may manage to skirt more bankruptcies. Among discount airlines, Airtran Holdings Inc. saw revenue passenger miles, which represent one paying passenger flown one mile, up 32.6 percent in August. Major carriers saw some improvement, with revenue passenger miles at Continental Airlines up 1.7 percent. American Airlines, the world's largest airline, saw traffic fall 1.7 percent, though American cut capacity by 6.5 percent as it whittles costs. The August data assuage concern that more airlines will have to file for bankruptcy -- even American, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy earlier this year. Analysts now think American could turn a profit in 2004. But the proof of an eventual industry turnaround will be in traffic data for the autumn, when vacationers go back home and business travelers traditionally hit the road. Airline experts have shied away from even guessing whether business travel will improve this year. "Early indications are traffic looks good, but the real question is the fall," said Ray Neidl, an analyst with Blaylock & Partners in New York. "The summer is about the best as can be expected." Neidl said the September traffic data will set the tone for the second half of the year. The autumn may be particularly suspenseful for discount airlines, which sometimes do not have the size or service to attract business fliers. Still, August highlighted the trend of market share moving to discount carriers. Traffic at Wall Street darling Southwest Airlines rose 3.4 percent to 4.5 million revenue passenger miles, with load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, at 73.2 percent compared with 72.7 percent last year. American Airlines, on the other hand, saw its domestic market share shri= nk as domestic traffic fell 1.7 percent to 11.7 billion revenue passenger miles. The airline flew 5.9 percent fewer passengers overall last month, at 8.4 million people. At the same time, Continental gave the low-cost players a run for their money, with traffic up 1.7 percent at 5.9 billion revenue passenger miles, load factor up 3.1 percentage points to 82.2 percent, and capacity down 2.3 percent at 7.1 billion available seat miles. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP