AirCal Reports Boost in Monthly Passenger Miles

AirCal said Monday that revenue passenger miles during December increased 35% to 211 million from 156.2 million a year earlier. A revenue passenger mile is the equivalent of one paying passenger flying one mile. For all of 1986, the Newport Beach-based regional airline said revenue passenger miles increased 21% to 2.28 billion from 1.84 billion in 1985.

Load factor, or the percentage of available seats that were actually filled in December, fell 9.9% to 52.0 from 57.7 a year earlier. For all of 1986, AirCal’s load factor dropped 6% to 53 from 56.6 in 1985. During 1986, AirCal expanded its routes and added new planes to its fleet.