Gol Linhas' (GOL) January Traffic & Load Factor Increase

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A.’s (NYSE:GOL) traffic report for January was impressive. Both consolidated traffic and load factor (% of seats filled with passengers) increased on a year-over-year basis despite sluggish performance on the international front.

Traffic Statistics in Detail

Consolidated traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), inched up 0.4% to 4.33 billion. While international RPK declined 3.7%, domestic RPK rose 1.1% in the month.

On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (measured in available seat kilometers/ASKs) declined 0.1% to approximately 5.17 billion, primarily due to a 1.3% contraction in international capacity. Domestic capacity expanded 0.2%.

Internationally, volumes of departures and seats increased 10% and 9.7%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis. On the domestic front, volumes of departures and seats grew 5.5% and 4.3%, respectively.

Moreover, the carrier witnessed a 5.5% increase in passenger count during the first month of 2020 on a consolidated basis. Consolidated load factor improved to 83.9% from January 2018’s 83.5%, as traffic grew and capacity contracted.

Price Performance

Shares of Gol Linhas have outperformed the industry in a year’s time, mainly owing to strong travel demand. Shares of the carrier have gained 17.3% in a year compared with the industry’s 0.2% appreciation in the same time period.

Owing to solid demand, passenger revenues rose 24.1% in the first nine months of 2019. With the current air-travel demand being impressive, the trend most likely continued in the fourth quarter of 2019. Detailed results should be out on Feb 20.

Zacks Rank

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 sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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

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