Finnair reports 23% rise in unit passenger revenue; Aer Lingus load factor up
European airline shares were mostly down on Thursday (07-Oct-2010) despite a relatively flat wider market and a 1.9% decline in fuel prices, to USD81.67. Trading in European markets was mixed after the UK reported a record decline in house prices but the US reported an unexpected drop in initial US jobless claims.
In key markets, UK's FTSE (-0.3%) slipped for the day, while Germany's DAX (+0.2%) and France's CAC (+0.2%) made minor gains.
Finnair reports 23% rise in unit passenger revenue
Finnair (+5.7%) was the biggest climber of the day, after stating unit passenger revenue rose by just over 23% year-on-year in Sep-2010. The carrier attributed the improvement to a rise in business travel demand in markets outside Finland.
See related CAPA Profile: Yields
The carrier reported a 1.9 ppt decline in load factor for the month, to 74.9%, after loads in all markets fell. However, passenger numbers were up 1.4% for the period to 652,300. All markets witnessed a rise in passenger numbers, expect for trans-Atlantic operations, in which numbers were down 14.3% to 13,300.
Aer Lingus load factor up
Aer Lingus (+1.4%) also gained for the day after reporting a 3.5 ppt improvement in load factor for Sep-2010 to 81%. The result was boosted by a 10.2 ppt rise in long-haul load factor, to 81.8%. Domestic load factor slipped 0.2 ppts to 80.6%.
Passenger numbers for the month declined 3.4%, to 927,000, led by a 3.4% decline in short-haul passenger numbers. Long haul numbers were stable, at 841,000.
See related CAPA Profile: Traffic and Capacity
Norwegian RASK declines
Norwegian (-4.9%) slumped after reporting a 21% decline in revenue per ASK for Sep-2010, to EUR5.23 cents. Yield was down 19% for the month to EUR6.85 cents. The result was despite a 20% rise in passenger numbers to 1.2 million. Load factor was stable.
Elsewhere, Dart Group (-4.1%) and Cimber Sterling (-3.0%) were also down for the day, while Aegean Airlines (+1.8%) was up.
Europe selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 07-Oct-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Yahoo! Finance & Reuters