SkyWest March Traffic Rises

The airline company's March traffic rose 2.2 percent to 1.56 billion revenue passenger miles from 1.53 billion in the same month last year.

A revenue passenger mile is an industry unit that represents one paying passenger flown one mile.

Capacity increased 3 percent to 1.97 billion available seat miles from 1.91 billion in March 2007.

Load factor, or occupancy, fell 0.6 percentage points to 79.2 percent from 79.8 percent last year.

So far this year, SkyWest said its passenger traffic is up 4.2 percent to 4.19 billion revenue passenger miles, while capacity is up 5.2 percent to 5.58 available seat miles. Load factor is down 0.8 percentage points to 75.2 percent.

SkyWest shares fell 67 cents, or 3.4 percent, to close at $19.04.