Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA) posted mixed traffic numbers for April. Load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) improved significantly even though traffic declined. This was because traffic decline was less than the capacity contraction in the month.
Consolidated traffic (measured in revenue passenger miles or RPMs) came in at 1.7 billion, down 0.9% from the year-ago figure. On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) contracted 3.5% to 2 billion. Consolidated load factor improved 2.2 percentage points (pp) to 84.1%.
On a year-to-date basis, Copa Holdings generated RPMs of 7 billion (up 1.5% year over year) and ASMs of 8.4 billion (up 0.5% year over year). Load factor registered a rise of 0.8 pp year over year to 83.5% as traffic growth outweighed capacity expansion.
Apart from the traffic report, this Latin-American carrier hit headlines when it reported better-than-expected earnings in first-quarter 2019. However, revenues fell short of the consensus mark owing to pricing pressures.
Other key Latin-American carriers that reported first-quarter earnings numbers are GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (NYSE:GOL) and Azul (NYSE:AZUL) . While GOL Linhas posted lower-than-expected earnings, Azul outperformed on the bottom-line front.
LATAM Airlines (NYSE:LTM) , is scheduled to report its first-quarter 2019 financial numbers on May 16.
Zacks Rank
Copa Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (GOL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Copa Holdings, S.A. (CPA): Free Stock Analysis Report
LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (LTM): Free Stock Analysis Report
AZUL SA (AZUL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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