Vueling's May-2010 more than doubles; Ryanair increasing network from Dusseldorf
Shares in Vueling gained 1.7% yesterday, the same day the carrier released its May-2010 traffic results. During the month, the carrier handled 945,000 passengers, a 119% year-on-year increase, with an average load factor of 71.5% (+0.6 ppts). The strong passenger gain was the result of the carrier's merger with clickair in Jul-2009.
Also gaining strongly yesterday was Norwegian, with a 7.5% share price increase, as Scandinavian airline stocks gained altitude. Also rising was Jet2.com parent, Dart Group, which witnessed a 3.9% gain.
Ryanair increasing network from Dusseldorf - no protest about German tax
Ryanair plans to increase its network from Dusseldorf (Weeze) to 52 routes and more than 3 million passengers p/a. The carrier plans to launch two new routes - to Madrid and Marseille - from Nov-2010, and increase Dusseldorf-Milan Bergamo frequency from daily to 11 times weekly. Ryanair has been strangely silent on Angela Merkel's new German air travel tax. The Dusseldorf expansion would have been planned before the tax announcement, but the timing is not ideal from the point of view of the Ryanair publicity machine, particularly around its pet topics of airport charges and taxation.
Shares in Ryanair gained 1.1% and easyJet rose 1.0%.
Selected LCCs daily share price movements (% change): 09-Jun-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation,Yahoo! Finance & Reuters