Airlines see signs of improvement in April

— -- U.S. airlines, which saw much of their high-fare business traffic evaporate this winter, may finally be coming out of their tailspin.

Reports on passenger volume and revenue from several carriers for April indicate that the steep fare discounts airlines have offered to fill coach seats are partially offsetting a big loss in business- and first-class fares.

Others saw improvements, too:

More encouraging was Continental's estimated revenue per available seat mile, or how much the carrier was paid per unit of capacity. It was down by as much as 13.5% compared with April 2008. While not good, that's better than the 19.6% drop it recorded in March.

Continental's results suggest "The demand/revenue environment has stabilized at a minimum, and possibly even improved slightly from March," Bob McAdoo at Avondale Partners told clients Monday.

The optimistic signs that airlines are succeeding in attracting passengers and cutting their capacity to match the lower demand for air travel come despite swine flu fears.

Several U.S. airlines, including Continental, Delta, United and US Airways, have cut flights to Mexico in the last few days. But their service to Mexico represents less than 2% of their business. Several analysts say the flu scare shouldn't affect their business overall unless it spreads, and fewer people fly to large markets.