SkyWest Traffic Falls 5.5 Percent In April

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — SkyWest Inc., which operates SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, said Thursday its traffic fell 5.5 percent in April from a year earlier on fewer flights, as its passenger count slipped.

The company said its traffic fell to 1.38 billion revenue passenger miles last month, from 1.48 billion in April 2008. A revenue passenger mile is a unit measuring one paying passenger flown one mile.

Its capacity fell 6.4 percent to 1.77 billion available seat miles, from 1.89 billion a year earlier.

The carrier's load factor, an industry measure of occupancy, rose 0.8 percentage points to 77.8 percent.

It flew 2.5 percent fewer passengers last month than 12 months prior.

In the first four months of this year, SkyWest's traffic has fallen 7.5 percent. Its capacity has shrunk 7.6 percent, while occupancy has remained at 75.7 percent.

SkyWest Airlines operates as United Express, Delta Connection and Midwest Connect carriers.

Shares of SkyWest rose 30 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $11.03 in afternoon trading.