Hawaiian Airlines (HA) Posts Robust Traffic Figures For May

Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. – an affiliate of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:HA) recently posted impressive air traffic statistics for the month of May. Hawaiian Airlines witnessed a 4.9% rise in traffic, which is measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs), to 1.27 billion as against 1.21 billion recorded a year ago.

On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) inched up 0.3% to 1.51 billion. Moreover, the load factor or percentage of seats filled by passengers increased to 84.3% from 80.5% in May 2015 as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion.

For the first five months of 2016, Hawaiian Airlines registered a 6.6% rise in RPMs to 6.01 billion, while ASMs inched up 2.7% to 7.32 billion, both on a year-over-year basis. Also, load factor increased by 300 basis points year over year to 82.1%. Moreover, passenger count for May 2016 and the first five months of 2016 grew 3.0% and 4.8%, respectively.

Increased travel demand and continuous route expansion were the primary factors driving traffic. We believe that such positives will continue to drive the carrier’s performance. Moreover, Airlines for America (“A4A”) – the trade organization for leading U.S. airlines – expects summer traffic to reach an all-time high this year and surpass the record set in 2015 by 4%. Passenger traffic between Jun 1 and Aug 31 is likely to be around 231.1 million compared with 222.3 million in the year-ago comparable period. This should benefit carriers like Hawaiian Airlines.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Hawaiian Holdings currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks include Air France – KLM SA (OTC:AFLYY) and SkyWest Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG), S.A. (OTC:ICAGY) with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).