As the airline industry worldwide still reels from the impact of September's terrorist attacks evidence is emerging that people are gradually regaining their confidence in flying.

Latest US Air Transport Association figures show that while US airline passenger numbers were down 19.9 percent in November, year on year, they showed a rise on the previous month.

In November the major US carriers transported 38.7 million passengers, 0.5 percent up on the 38.2 million in October. However, it is in the low cost sector, both in the US and the Europe, that the most marked improvement has been experienced.

No frills operators on both sides of the Atlantic have seen a boom, with the latest encouraging signs reported by Fort Lauderdale-based Spirit Airlines. With a better than expected Thanksgiving, the airline saw its load factor for November rise by 4 percent over the previous month.

"Given the current environment, a gain of 4 percent month to month is encouraging," said Ned Homfeld, Spirit's chairman and founder. "The great news is we have carried half a million more passengers year-to-date than last year. We believe the flying public is slowly returning to normal patterns and while it's a difficult time we see positive signs."

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/12/1008502867.html