AirAsia seeing strong demand for share issuance but share price slumps
LCC shares were mixed on Tuesday (04-Aug-09). Oil prices eased on Tuesday, after a four-day 13% rally, with New York oil prices slipping USD0.16 cents to settle at USD71.42, while in London, oil prices gained USD0.73 to end the day at USD74.28.
Selected LCCs daily share price movements (% change): 04-Aug-09
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance
Leading the LCC gainers yesterday was Jazeera, jumping 4.4%. Both Jazeera Airways and AirArabia (-1.0%) have been rated "buy" in new coverage at Nomura Holdings.
In the US, Southwest surged 4.3%, while AirTran also gained yesterday, up 1.6%. The carrier transported 2.4 million passengers in Jul-2009, a 3.5% year-on-year reduction, with load factor also down, by 0.9% to 88.3%, as the carrier's 4.1% capacity (ASMs) reduction in the month was outpaced by a 5.1% traffic (RPMs) reduction.
Also reporting Jul-2009 traffic highlights yesterday was struggling Eastern European LCC, SkyEurope, which experienced a 37.1% year-on-year reduction in passenger numbers, due to its strategic reduction in capacity levels (-38.0%), as part of efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of the economic downturn. The carrier, which is now in its second month of reorganisation, saw load factors strengthen by 1.1 ppts to 80.1% in the month. The carrier's share price slipped 3.2%.
Elsewhere in Europe, easyJet shares gained 1.2%, with Ryanair also up by 1.8%.
In the Asia Pacific region, AirAsia's share price slumped 5.8%, as it moves to issue new shares next month.