Although the Air Transport Association of America (ATA) last month reported another month of industry declines, U.S. airlines yesterday indicated that they're nonetheless seeing signs of an emerging 2010 recovery.Speaking at the Next Generation Equity Research Airline Conference in New York, executives from several top U.S. airlines said business travel demand—which began a steady nosedive early this year, thanks to the recession—is finally improving, which they expect to give way to a broader industry upswing next year.One such airline was US Airways, which said its corporate travel business was up 5 percent year-over-year in November—its first month of positive-revenue growth this year."This is very indicative of a business-demand recovery," said US Airways Group President Scott Kirby, speaking at the conference.Even the nation's largest carriers are seeing improvements."I think we are seeing improvement in both leisure and premium traffic at this point," said Beverly Goulet, treasurer at AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines. "We continue to see strength in close-in bookings."Added Delta Airlines Chief Financial Officer Hank Halter, "When is unit revenue going to go positive? I think we've seen a steady steep progression. I don't want to give a specific date or guidance, but clearly it's going to be in 2010 and likely it's going to be in the front half of 2010."Airline executives' optimism contrasts with last month's sobering ATA report, which showed a 15 percent year-over-year decline in passenger revenue for October, and a comparable 13.5 percent decline in airline ticket prices. The former was the 12th consecutive month of passenger revenue declines and the latter the 11th consecutive month of ticket price declines."With U.S. unemployment surpassing 10 percent in October, these results for air travel demand come as little surprise," ATA President and CEO James C. May said in a statement. "Economic conditions suggest that pressure to generate revenue will remain intense for the foreseeable future."