Expressjet passenger numbers up 20%; US airlines report improved on-time performance
A decline in oil prices (-0.7%), to USD81.67, also boosted airline stocks.
Expressjet passenger numbers up 20%
ExpressJet (-0.2%) slipped for the day, despite reporting a 2.2 ppt year-on-year rise in load factor for Sep-2010, to 78.5%. The improvement was the result of a 20% rise in traffic (RPMs) on a 16% increase in capacity (ASMs).
See related CAPA Profile: Traffic and Capacity
Republic Airways looking for alliance partner
Republic Airways (+1.7%) gained after CEO Bryan Bedford stated the carrier's subsidiary, Frontier Airlines, is open to a marketing deal with another major carrier "to be successful in the long term". Mr Bedford declined to identify any potential partners for the carrier.
See related report: JP Morgan revises estimates for JetBlue and Southwest; Frontier may partner with major carrier
US airlines report second best August on-time performance
Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported 81.7% of flights arrived within 15 minutes of the posted time in Aug-2010, the second best August on-time results for the carriers since BTS started recording the data in 1995.
Carriers with the highest on-time arrival rates were:
- Hawaiian Airlines (+3.9%): 95.6%;
- Alaska Airlines (+0.6%): 88.7%;
- Continental Airlines (+3.6%): 87.1%;
However, the carrier with the lowest on-time arrival rates included
- Comair: 76.4%;
- JetBlue: 77.1%;
- Delta Air Lines (+1.6%): 77.4%.
BTS also stated US airlines reported only one flight in Aug-2010 with a tarmac delay of more than three hours, compared with 66 flights in Aug-2009, with no change in the rate of cancelled flights.
See related CAPA Profile: On-time performance and delays
Elsewhere, US Airways (+6.1%) climbed after the carrier stated last week it expects to be profitable this year. The carrier was one of the top 10 percentage gainers on the New York Stock Exchange for the day. Air Canada (+4.4%) also rose.
Copa Airlines (-2.6%) meanwhile continued to decline, with FedEx (-0.5%) and WestJet (-0.3%) also ending the session lower.
North & South America selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 12-Oct-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance