Vueling August passenger traffic falls 10.9 pct

MADRID, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Passenger traffic at low-cost airline Vueling (VULG.MC), operating in the midst of Spain's sharp economic slowdown, fell 10.9 percent year-on-year to 692,780 passengers in August, it said on Friday.

Vueling's passenger load factor, which measures the amount of available capacity filled on its flights, fell 5.3 percentage points to 85 percent compared with 90.3 percent a year earlier.

The Barcelona-based company, grappling with high fuel costs and cut-throat competition from other no-frills carriers, is trimming its fleet by more than a third by the end of this year to control costs. (Editing by David Holmes)