Gol Linhas' November Traffic Rises, Load Factor Declines

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (NYSE:GOL) reported air traffic figures for November. Traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), climbed 3.8% to 3.4 billion. While international RPK declined 13.2%, domestic RPK grew 6.3% in the month.

On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat kilometers/ASKs) was up 6.4% to 4.21 billion, primarily on 8.9% expansion in domestic capacity. Moreover, the carrier witnessed an 8.3% increase in passenger count during November.

Load factor, percentage of seats filled by passengers, deteriorated to 80.7% from 82.7% a year ago as traffic growth was outpaced by capacity expansion. While domestic load factor declined due to the effects of an unscheduled aircraft maintenance, International load factor decreased due to low demand in Argentina and Chile.

At the end of 11 months of 2019, RPK increased 9.8% (with a 37% rise in international RPK) while ASK grew 6.6% (owing to 31.7% expansion in international ASK). Also, load factor for the period improved 240 basis points. Moreover, the company recorded a 3.4% rise in the volume of departures whereas the number of seats occupied by passengers was up 5.9%.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Gol Linhas carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT) , Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) and Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) . While Allegiant sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Alaska Air Group and Controladora Vuela carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Allegiant, Alaska Air Group and Controladora Vuela have rallied more than 70%, 12% and 90%, respectively, so far this year.

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