Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) posted impressive traffic numbers for November 2018. Load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) improved as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion.
Consolidated traffic (measured in revenue passenger miles or RPMs) came in at 1.7 billion, up 6.7% from the year-ago figure. On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) rose 4.1% to 2 billion.
Notably, consolidated load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) expanded 2.1 percentage points (pp) to 84.3%.
At the end of the first 11 months of 2018, Copa Holdings generated RPMs of 19.7 billion (up 8.4% year over year) and ASMs of 23.6 billion (up 8% year over year). Consequently, load factor registered a rise of 0.3 pp year over year to 83.5%.
Apart from the traffic report, the carrier was recently in news when it reached a joint business agreement (JBA) with United Continental Holdings’ (NASDAQ:UAL) wholly-owned subsidiary United Airlines and Avianca (including several of its affiliates). The JBA, on approval from the government, is anticipated to facilitate travel experience between the United States and 19 countries in Central and South America.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Copa Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A few better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Transportation sector are Air France-KLM SA (OTC:AFLYY) and Spirit Airlines, Inc. (NYSE:SAVE) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shares of Air France and Spirit Airlines have gained 26.7% and 49.7% in the past six months, respectively.
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Spirit Airlines, Inc. (SAVE): Free Stock Analysis Report
United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Air France-KLM SA (AFLYY): Free Stock Analysis Report
Copa Holdings, S.A. (CPA): Free Stock Analysis Report
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