Turkish Airlines and Vueling benefit from traffic results, SAS down
European share markets made gains for the first time in three sessions on Wednesday (13-Jan-2010).
The UK FTSE 100 index (-0.5%) was one of the few down at the end of trading due to pressure on the market by oil producers on weaker oil prices and news Royal Dutch Shell was downgraded during trading. News factory output in the UK stalled for a second consecutive month in Nov-2009 also affected stocks. Despite the drop, British Airways (+0.6%) and easyJet (+2.0%) made gains.
In other markets, France's Paris CAC was down 0.1%, while Germany's Frankfurt DAX ended the day up 0.2%.
Turkish Airlines reports 11% increase in passenger numbers for 2009
Turkish Airlines (+4.6%) was one of the day's biggest gainers, after reporting an 11% year-on-year rise in passenger numbers for FY2009, to 25.1 million. However, load factor for the year was down 3.1 ppts, to 70.9%, as increased capacity (ASKs), up 22%, outweighed the rise in traffic (RPKs), up 17.0%.
Oyak Securities analyst, Cemal Demirtas, stated the results were "impressive…on a cumulative basis". However, Mr Demirtas noted rising fuel prices and recent gains in Turkish Airlines shares could limit further increases. Oyak Securities rates the carrier's shares at 'Outperform'.
See related report: Turkish Airlines SWOT Analysis: Can the dream continue?
Vueling continues to benefit from clickair merger
Vueling was also up on its Dec-2009 and FY2009 traffic results. For FY2009, the carrier reported a 39.3% increase in passenger numbers, to 8.2 million, as a result of its merger with clickair in Jul-2009. Load factor was also up, rising 3.4 ppts for the month, to 73.7%.
The carrier results for Dec-2009 were less impressive. The carrier reported a 95.9% rise in passenger numbers for Dec-2009, to 817,107. However, load factor was down 2.2 ppts, to 68.8%.
SAS falls on traffic results
SAS (-2.0%) meanwhile reported a 7.1% fall in passenger numbers in Dec-2009, to 1.7 million. Passenger numbers were also down for the full year, slumping 14.1% to 24.9 million.
More positively, the group's load factor was up 4.3 ppts for Dec-2009, at (a still weak) 69.7%, but down for the full year, decreasing 0.3 ppts, to 70.9%.
Norwegian (-3.9%) was also down at the end of trading.
These reports - and much more - are contained in today's edition of Europe Airline Daily.
Europe selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 13-Jan-2010
