US airline shares surge
Shares in most US carriers rose sharply on Tuesday, led by an 11.8% jump in US Airways shares, as crude oil futures eased by nearly USD1 per barrel. Delta Air Lines shares rose 9.7%, with most US carriers up by more than 5%. Latin American airlines' shares also rallied but not as strongly. Copa and LAN both reported strong Feb-2011 traffic.
Copa Holdings reported the following consolidated traffic highlights in Feb-2011:
- Revenue passenger miles: +19.4% year-on-year;
- Copa Airlines: +19.7%;
- Copa Airlines Colombia: +17.5%;
- Passenger load factor: 76.7%, -4.1 ppts;
LAN Airlines reported the following traffic highlights in Feb-2011:
- Passenger numbers: 1.8 million, +28.8% year-on-year;
- Domestic: 1.2 million, +36.8%;
- International: 577,000, +14.9%;
- Passenger load factor: 82.3%, +0.2 ppt;
- Domestic: 79.9%, -3.2 ppts;
- International: 83.5%, +2.0 ppts;
- Cargo load factor: 67.2%, -1.2 ppts.
Mexicana announced it is in talks with potential new investors and hopes to make its return by 18-Apr-2011. The bankrupt carrier has reportedly had proposals from five different groups including TG Group, BMC Financial, Avanza Capital and Ivan Varona. It reportedly has until Aug-2011 to decide on an investor.
Selected AAD daily share price movements (% change): 8-Mar-2011
