Republic rises following Frontier’s net profit; COPA, GOL and TAM fall with wider market
North American carriers' stocks were mixed on Friday (28-Aug-09), while South American carriers' stocks fell with the wider market. The Dow (-0.4%) ended the day down, after news US consumer sentiment was not as strong in Aug-2009 as it was in Jul-2009, resulting in a second consecutive monthly decline. Meanwhile oil prices (+0.3%) rose to USD72.74. Consequently, the AMEX Airline Index (-0.5%) fell.
Republic Airways (+10.8%) was the biggest gainer of the day, following Frontier Airlines' announcement of a USD17.8 million net profit for Jul-2009, its ninth consecutive monthly profit. Frontier reported a consolidated operating profit of $24.9 million for the month of July 2009, compared to an operating income of $1.2 million for the same period in 2008, due to cost and capacity cuts.
JetBlue (+2.5%) was also up again, on the back of news it plans to file a request for regulatory approval to enter a codeshare agreement with European carrier, Lufthansa. Fellow LCCs WestJet (+1.2%), Allegiant (+1.1%) and Southwest (+0.7%) also rose.
Continental Airlines (+1.8%) was the only legacy carrier to end the day up Expressjet (+3.3%) stocks rose. while US Airways (-2.2%), Delta Air Lines (-2%), American Airlines (-1.1%) and United Airlines (-0.3%) stocks were all down at the end of trading.
COPA (-2.8%) led the fall of the South American carriers during the day, as GOL and TAM also fell on the back of a decline in the Bovespa (-0.1%). TAM took delivery of a new A319 on the day, the carrier's 125th Airbus aircraft.
North & South America selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 28-Aug-09
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance