ExpressJet Holdings Inc. said traffic on its airlines rose 8 percent and that their aircraft were more full in October than they were a year ago according to the Associated Press. This marks the second consecutive month that ExpressJet has announced increases in passenger traffic.
The company, whose affiliates operate regional flights as Continental Express, said Wednesday that paying passengers flew 667 million miles last month, up from 616 million in October 2008.
Capacity, or the number of seats times miles flown, rose 4 percent, to 848 million miles.
Average occupancy on its planes rose to 78.7 percent from 75.7 percent a year ago.
ExpressJet announced last month that its September passenger traffic rose 19 percent from a year earlier, when the carrier was reeling from the loss of flying for Delta and shutting down its own branded airline.
Capacity also rose 11 percent in October, to 808 million available seat miles. With traffic rising faster than the carrier rebuilt capacity, the average occupancy of its planes, or load factor, rose to 76.3 percent from 70.8 percent in September 2008.
ExpressJet Holdings operates several divisions designed to leverage the management experience, efficiencies and economies of scale present in its subsidiaries, including ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. and ExpressJet Services, LLC. ExpressJet Airlines serves 128 scheduled destinations in North America and the Caribbean with approximately 1,160 departures per day.
