National carrier Qantas Airways Ltd lowered its latest capacity projection increases for the first half of 2010/11, downgrading its traffic forecast from the full-year numbers reported in August.

As of the end of September, Qantas reported on Wednesday that the airline's expected total group capacity should be 8.4 percent better in the first six months of financial year 2010/11 when compared to the prior corresponding period.

The capacity estimates plunged from the August expectations of 9.6 percent increase in passenger traffic.

For the first three months of the current fiscal year leading to September, Qantas said that passenger traffic numbers went up by 8.9 percent as against with the previous corresponding period.

Also, the carrier said that its revenue seat factor shot up by 81.5 percent in the same period but was 0.8 percentage lower when pitted to the previous year's figures.

Qantas said that combining all its domestic operations, including the services offered by QantasLink and Jetstar across the national flight routes, the airline's local business yields inched up by 1.3 percent in September.

The international front, according to Qantas, was far better as the carrier's global services yields soared by 13.6 percent in the same period.

The company's monthly report also reflected indications that its Qantas Frequent Flyer program saw improvements of up to seven percent in the three months leading to September as against the gains registered in the same period last year.

Qantas revealed that the program attracted more than 200,000 new registrants since June of last year, leading to billings spike of 10.1 percent.