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Monday, United Airlines (UAUA) announced that its December traffic matched last year's traffic, but that planes were more crowded. Confused? UAUA had fewer flights this year compared to a year ago, so matching traffic from last year meant that the planes had more passengers.
The air carrier announced that paying passengers flew 9.21 billion miles last month and capacity shrank to 11.24 billion available seat miles from 11.60 billion in December 2008. All this totaled up to average occupancy of 81.9%, up from 79.4% a year earlier. Average occupancy for the year increased to 81.2% from 80.4%. Taking regional operations out of the equation, average occupancy on UAUA flights came in at 83%, up from 79.9% in the prior year.
UAUA shares dropped slightly Monday, but the stock managed to maintain its position north of its 10-month and 20-month moving averages. The equity is also riding along support from its 10-week and 20-week moving averages. All of this support is very nice, especially as the stock seems to have turned its performance issues around. The old year passed with the stock near 52-week highs, and it sure seems as if the shares are going to carry the late-year momentum into 2010.
With all of the trendline support in place, it will be hard for UAUA to find itself in the fog of a sustained slump. That said, the airline industry is fickle -- subject to all sorts of news-related dips.
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