United Airlines has reported that its cargo ton miles in August amounted to a total of 162,821,000 for freight and mail, representing an increase of 4.1 per cent over the same month a year ago.

Within this total, freight amounted to 144,995,000 ton miles, up 3.2 per cent, while mail rose 12.7 per cent year on year to 17,826,000 ton miles.

The US carrier also recorded its highest passenger load factor ever of 86.3 per cent in August. Total scheduled revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increased by 2.3 per cent on a capacity decrease of 1.0 per cent in scheduled available seat miles (ASMs) compared with the same period in 2006, a company statement said.

In August, UAL carried 6,258,000 revenue passengers, up 0.9 per cent over the same month last year.

Year to date, the airline's total revenue ton miles fell 0.2 per cent to 9,332,899. The number of revenue passengers fell 0.2 per cent year on year to 47,072,000.