Hawaiian Airlines' January Traffic Up But Load Factor Down

Hawaiian Holdings, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:HA) wholly owned subsidiary Hawaiian Airlines reported traffic figures for January. Traffic (measured in Revenue Passenger Miles or RPMs) increased 6.6% to 1.53 billion in the month. Available Seat Miles (ASMs) climbed 7.5% to 1.83 billion in the period. With capacity expansion exceeding traffic growth, load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) deteriorated 70 basis points (bps) to 83.6%. The carrier transported 963,053 passengers in January, up 0.5% year over year.



With the earnings season on, let’s shed some light on the airline’s recently released fourth-quarter earnings report. The carrier’s quarterly earnings (excluding 8 cents from non-recurring items) of 99 cents per share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 87 cents. However, the bottom line dipped 1% year over year. Although quarterly revenues of $708.1 million missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $709.3 million, the same inched up 1.5% year over year.



Passenger revenues accounting for bulk (91.6%) of the top line increased 1.6% year over year. Meanwhile, with pressures related to average fares in the carrier’s domestic markets, operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM: a key measure of unit revenues) slid 2.1% year over year. (Read more: Hawaiian Holdings Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates, Slip Y/Y)

Zacks Rank & Key Picks



Hawaiian Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are GATX Corporation (NYSE:GATX) , Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) and Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



GATX boasts a stellar earnings record, having surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 21%. Meanwhile, shares of Azul and Controladora Vuela have gained more than 27% and 73%, respectively, in a year’s time.



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