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US Airways RASM up 6% for Nov-2010; ACE Aviation to sell more Air Canada shares; Delta gains

Analysis

US Airways (-0.6%) declined in a day of mixed trading for North and South American airlines on Friday (03-Dec-2010) despite the carrier reporting a 6% year-on-year rise in revenue per ASM for Nov-2010. The carrier also reported a 3.3 ppt year-on-year improvement in load factor for the month to 80.6%.

The result was led by a 6.4ppt increase in Latin American load factor, to 78.8%, while domestic load factor rise 3.6ppts to 82.1%, and trans-Atlantic load factor was up 0.5ppts to 73.6%. Passenger numbers also rose 8.3% for the month to 4.2 million.

See related CAPA Profile: Yields

American Airlines passenger numbers up 2.7%

American Airlines (-1.2%) also fell, despite the carrier reporting a 0.9ppt improvement in load factor for Nov-2010 to 80.4%. The rise was the result of a 4.3% rise in traffic (RPMs) on a 3.2% increase in capacity (ASMs). Asia Pacific load factor increased the most for the month, gaining 2.8 ppts, to 81%. Passenger numbers also rose for the period, up 2.7% to 6.9 million.

See related CAPA Profile: Traffic and Capacity

ACE Aviation to sell more Air Canada shares

Air Canada (-0.8%) also slipped. During trading, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc (ACE Aviation) entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters for a secondary offering on a bought deal basis of 44 million Class B voting shares of Air Canada at an offering price of CAD3.70 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD162.8 million. The agreement was led by Canaccord Genuity Corp and including RBC Dominion Securities Inc and TD Securities Inc as co-leads. Closing of the offering is expected to occur on 23-Dec-2010. After the offering, ACE Aviation will own 31 million Class B Voting Shares of Air Canada representing 11.15% of the Class A Variable Voting Shares and Class B Voting Shares. ACE Aviation has entered into a 60 day standstill agreement with the underwriters.

Republic Airways (-2.8%) and United Continental Holdings (-1.7%) were also down for Friday.

Delta's load factor slips

Delta Air Lines (+0.9%) was among those that gained for the day, despite reporting a 0.1 ppt decline in load factor for Nov-2010, to 79.5%. The result followed a 7.5% rise in traffic (RPMs), on a 7.5% increase in capacity (ASMs) for the month. More positively, passenger numbers rose 5.8% for the period, to 12.9 million.

Elsewhere, Latin American carriers TAM (+2.1%), LAN Airlines (+1.4%), Copa Airlines (+1.2%) and GOL (+1.1%) were the biggest gainers for the session.

North & South America selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 03-Dec-2010

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