Pinnacle Airlines says August traffic rose on its planes

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. said August traffic rose 1.7 percent on its subsidiaries, which operate regional flights for major airlines.

The company said passengers flew 807 million miles last month, compared with 793.2 million miles in August 2010.

The airlines cut passenger-carrying capacity by 2.8 percent, mostly by operating fewer flights.

With traffic rising faster than capacity, planes were more crowded last month. The average flight was 78.6 percent full, up from 75.1 percent a year earlier.

Pinnacle owns Pinnacle Airlines, Colgan Air and Mesaba Aviation and flies as Delta Connection, United Express and US Airways Express.

Shares of the Memphis company rose a penny to close at $3.38. They have ranged from $3 to $8.68 in the past year.

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