Airline Maniac

After weeks of bad news in the airline industry, some good news is finally hitting the press.

Southwest Airlines, America’s largest low-cost carrier, announced their May results recently. They carried 7% more passengers in May 2008 than May 2007 with only a 5% increase in capacity. This increase came with a 0.9% year-over-year increase in load factor.

Airtran Airways, another large low-cost carrier in the US, also announced positive results for May. Airtran’s traffic surged 18% year-over-year with a 14% capacity increase. Load factor increased by 2.9% .

In these troubling times for airlines, these positive results hopefully signify that well-managed airlines can overcome the frightening cost of fuel.