Air Canada and WestJet gain on improved traffic; Allegiant load factor slips; GOL yields up 6%
Canadian carriers Air Canada (+1.8%) and WestJet (+1.6%) stocks ended Monday (06-Dec-2010) higher in a day of mixed results for North and South American airline stocks. The carriers were up on improved traffic results for Nov-2010.
During trading, Air Canada reported a 0.1 ppt year-on-year rise in load factor for the month, to 74.8%. The increase was the result of a 7.5% rise in traffic (RPMs) on a 7.3% increase in capacity (ASMs). Latin American laod factor led the rise, up 3.2 ppts, to 77.6%, while load factor of domestic services rose 1.9 ppts, to 79.6%. US load factor also gained, up 1.8 ppts, to 73.1% However, trans-Atlantic and Asia Pacific load factors slumped for the month. Trans-Atlantic loads fell 1.2 ppts, to 67%, while Asia Pacific loads were down 5.7 ppts, to 76.4%.
More positively, WestJet reported a 1.8 ppt improvement in load factor for Nov-2010, to 77.7%. The result came as traffic rose 17.9%, on the back of a 15.3% increase in capacity.
CEO Gregg Saretsky stated the LCC is seeing strong bookings from Business passengers and for vacation packages.
See related CAPA Profile: Premium Traffic
Allegiant load factor slips
Allegiant (+1.5%) was also up for the session, despite reporting a 0.1 ppt decline in load factor for Nov-2010, to 86.4%. Passenger numbers were up 8.5% for the month, to 443,237.
Atlas Air (+3.7%) and JetBlue (+2.9%) also rose for the day.
GOL yields up 6%
GOL (-1.8%) stocks meanwhile erased some gains from the day prior, despite stating during trading that yield for Nov-2010 averaged slightly above BRL20.00 cents, 6% more than in Nov-2009 and Oct-2010. As a result, RASK increased by nearly 6% year-on-year.
See related CAPA Profile: Yields
However, the carrier reported a 3.6 ppt decline in load factor for the month, to 68%. The decline was the result of a 5.4% rise in traffic (RPKs) on a 11.1% increase in capacity.
Elsewhere, United Continental Holdings (-2.5%) and TAM (-2.4%) were also down. During trading, United Continental stated Continental has postponed the 16-Nov-2011 launch of its proposed Houston-Auckland service until 2012 due to an expected delay in the delivery of B787s.
North & South America selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 06-Dec-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance