European aviation stocks dip as rescue euphoria wears off, Lufthansa traffic up
Renewed selling hit European stock markets yesterday as investor euphoria over the USD1 trillion eurozone rescue package faded after strong gains on Monday.
- European stock markets experience renewed selling after initial gains from eurozone rescue package.
- Eurofly, Aer Lingus, easyJet, and Thomas Cook see significant declines in stock prices.
- Lufthansa Group reports a rise in passenger traffic but a reduction in core volumes due to airspace closures.
- Excluding acquisitions, Lufthansa's sales would have fallen by 10.5%.
- Aeroflot is one of the few carriers to experience a stock price increase.
- Daily share price movements of selected European airlines on May 11, 2010.
The big gainers on Monday were those that fell back most on Tuesday. Eurofly fell 5.9%, Aer Lingus 5.6%, easyJet 4.2% and Thomas Cook 3.2%.
Lufthansa Group traffic up, core volumes down
Lufthansa slipped 0.5% as the carrier revealed Group passenger traffic rose 3.7% to 6.12 million in Apr-2010, with passenger load factor rising 0.3 ppts to 76.2%. Excluding the effect of acquisitions, the core Lufthansa unit reported a 16.2% reduction in traffic, due to European airspace closures last month. Excluding the acquired Austrian Airlines and bmi, sales would have fallen 10.5%. See related report: Lufthansa losses ugly. Is this a strategy in trouble? Board still upbeat on "positive demand trends"
Aeroflot was one of the few carriers to gain yesterday, rising 2.5%. See related report: Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC): Emerging aviation markets performing well in 2010
Europe selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 11-May-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance