Virgin had a few more riding her in August..
 

Australian budget airline Virgin Blue said on Monday its passenger traffic rose 9.3 percent in August, matching the growth in its capacity.

Virgin Blue carried 1.2 million passengers in August, up 10.7 percent on the same month last year. Revenue passenger kilometres, an industry standard which measures seats sold and distance flown, rose 9.3 percent, it said in a statement.

Its August passenger load factor, which measures how successfully it fills its aircraft, was steady at 78.2 percent.

In the 11 months to August, its revenue passenger kilometres were up 13.9 percent, capacity rose 17.7 percent and its load factor was down 2.6 percentage points at 76.3 percent.

Virgin Blue is 62.4 percent-owned by Patrick Corp, Australia's biggest ports operator which is the subject of a AUD$4.7 billion (USD$3.6 billion) hostile bid from Toll Holdings to create Australia's biggest transport company.

Under Toll's bid proposal, the combined group would sell down Patrick's stake in Virgin Blue by allowing Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which owns 25.6 percent of Virgin Blue, to buyer a bigger interest of up to 40.6 percent.

(Reuters):cool: