Carrier sees smaller decline in the region

By the Caribbean Journal staff

American Airlines Group’s regional decline slowed slightly in July, according to the company’s latest monthly traffic report.

The carrier reported revenue passenger miles of just over 3.01 billion in July, down 1 percent from 3.041 billion in July 2014.

While the carrier has seen negative growth in RPM to the region for months, the 1 percent reduction was an improvement from June’s 6.1 percent year-over-year decline and May’s 7.9 percent year-over-year decline.

Load factor to the region fell by 5.1 percent to 3.963 billion miles.

Indeed, the carrier saw positive overall growth in international traffic, with a 2.8 percent year-over-year increase last month.

American has been facing stiffening competition in the region, particularly from rapidly-expanding JetBlue.