Australian budget airline Virgin Blue said on Thursday November passenger traffic rose by 8.6 percent on a year ago after slowing capacity growth and introducing a frequent-flyer program.

Revenue passenger kilometres, an industry standard which measures seats sold and distance flown, rose by 8.6 percent in November, said Virgin Blue, which competes with Qantas Airways and its budget carrier Jetstar on domestic routes.

Virgin Blue carried 1.19 million passengers in November, up 11 percent. Its load factor rose by 3.8 percentage points to 78.7 percent. Capacity rose by 3.3 percent.

Virgin Blue is 62.4 percent-owned by Patrick Corp., Australia's biggest ports operator, which is the subject of a hostile bid from land transport firm Toll Holdings.

Under Toll's bid, the combined group would sell down Patrick's stake in Virgin Blue by allowing Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which owns 25.6 percent of Virgin Blue, to buy a bigger interest of up to 40.6 percent.