Airline Passenger Miles Contract 2nd Time in 3 Months

According to the Bureau of Transportation, system revenue passenger miles were 68.5 billion in April 2013. This was a decrease of 0.3% compared to April 2012. This was the second month-over-month decrease in the last three months. The annual rate of change continues to grow more slowly. In fact, the annual rate of growth, now 0.4%, is the slowest it has been since May 2010 when the rate of change of airline passenger miles first moved from contracting to growing. However, real personal income, a good leading indicator for passenger miles, has seen accelerating growth since July 2012. Therefore, airline passenger miles should see accelerating growth in its annual rate of change soon. This would be positive news for aerospace industrial production.