Brazilian Airlines report strong Dec-2010 traffic, Republic Holdings continues downward trend
Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) reported strong growth in domestic travel in Dec-2010, with domestic RPKs up 18.6%. International traffic was also positive, with RPKs climbing 17.7% year-on-year. Domestic load factors averaged 73.3% while international load factors were 77.2%.
TAM was among the fastest growing of Brazil's major carriers, for both international (+13%) and domestic traffic (+24.7%). However, major rival GOL reported weak domestic traffic (+3.4%) but very strong international growth (+42.4%). Shares in TAM eased 0.1% while shares in GOL were flat. Elsewhere in Latin America, LAN Airlines gained 0.4% while Copa was down 0.5%.
Shares in Republic Airways Holdings dropped 3.7% in trading on Thursday. Last week, Zacks Investment Research upgraded Republic Airways from a "neutral" to an "outperform" rating. The carrier reported overall group traffic in Dec-2010 was down 2% to 2.47 million passengers. Republic Airways Holdings is one of the largest regional airline companies in the US, controlling five airlines: Republic Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Lynx Aviation, Chautauqua Airlines, and Shuttle America. The company also has agreements to operate regional flights for other US carriers.
Selected North American airlines daily share price movements (% change): 13-Jan-2011
