United Airlineså’ (NYSE: UAL) total scheduled revenue passenger miles (RPMs) rose 16.6 percent in October vs. the comparable month in 2001 on a capacity increase of 4.6 percent.  The carrierå‘s passenger load factor came in at 70.7 percent, up from 63.4 percent a year ago.

“United’s operations sparkled again in October with 87.7 percent of our flights arriving early, on time or within 14 minutes of schedule (the U.S. Department of Transportation measurement),” said Chris Bowers, senior vice president - marketing and sales.

“Our passenger traffic increase was led by a 38.9 percent improvement across the Pacific and a 27.4 percent improvement across the Atlantic,” Bowers said.  “On the cargo side of our business, we experienced a sharp increase of 31.5 percent in freight carried last month.”

Both passenger and cargo traffic were depressed in October of 2001, suffering from the ongoing impact of the events of Sept. 11. The accompanying charts compare October of 2002 traffic with both October of 2001 and October of 2000.

United operates nearly 1,800 flights a day on a route network that spans the globe.  News releases and other information about United may be found at the company’s website at www.united.com.

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