Gol Linhas' December Traffic Rises, Load Factor Declines

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (NYSE:GOL) has reported mixed traffic report for December. While consolidated traffic increased, load factor (% of seats filled with passengers) declined as capacity expansion outweighed traffic growth. Load factor was primarily hurt by weakness in the international market.

Traffic Statistics in Detail

Consolidated traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), inched up 1.1% to 3.98 billion. While international RPK declined 12%, domestic RPK grew 3.1% in the month.

On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (measured in available seat kilometers/ASKs) was up 3.1% to 4.86 billion, primarily owing to a 5.2% expansion in domestic capacity. Domestically, volume of departures and seats increased 7.5% and 8.5%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis.

Moreover, the carrier witnessed a 6.5% increase in passenger count during December. Consolidated load factor deteriorated to 82% from the prior year’s 83.6%, as traffic growth was outpaced by capacity expansion.

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. Price

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. price | Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. Quote

For full-year 2019, consolidated RPK increased 8.9%, while ASK grew 6.3%. Also, load factor in 2019 expanded 200 basis points to 82%. Moreover, the company recorded a 3.8% rise in the volume of departures, whereas the number of seats was up 6.1%.

GOL Linhas, which competes with the likes of Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA) , LATAM Airlines (NYSE:LTM) and Azul (NYSE:AZUL) in the Latin American aviation space, currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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