TSA Checkpoint

This Monday, TSA traffic nearly hit one million travelers at 984k. The weekly average was 8% higher than the previous week. Traffic appears to be climbing again, just much more slowly than it had in the past.

FAA Traffic

With another month comes another sharp increase in air traffic through Hartsfield-Jackson Intl. The month of August saw an average daily increase of 20%, or 260 more planes per day. This puts airline traffic through Atlanta in the month of August at 59% of what it was last year.

Delta Airlines

Detla Airlines will release their Q3 earnings call tomorrow. Expect next week a detailed summary of what they discussed. Today they closed at $32.65.

In the news

Another huge round of airline losses is coming

Chris Isidore

Airlines did manage to shave losses by trimming costs — including labor, as employees took buyouts and early retirement packages and agreed to unpaid furloughs. And there was a modest pickup in travel during the summer travel season.

Yet it’s not much better than the previous disastrous quarter: Wall Street analysts forecast industry sales will be down 75% in the third quarter.Bookings haven’t looked particularly strong for the fall with leisure travel drying up and very little in the way of business travel to take its place.

Southwest Airlines Aims to Challenge Rivals at O’Hare and in Houston

Alison Sider

Southwest will start service to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport next year, the airline said Monday. The moves mean expanding Southwest’s already large footprint in Chicago to take on United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL -1.99% and American Airlines Group Inc., AAL -2.12% and in Houston, to an airport where United dominates.

Southwest’s move is one of the first signs of the tectonic shifts under way in the industry as it tries to emerge from a crisis expected to have a deeper and longer-lasting impact on airlines’ finances than 9/11. Travel demand plunged 96% in April and the recovery has been partial, slow, and inconsistent.