Hawaiian Airlines' Traffic & Load Factor Increase In July

Hawaiian Holdings' (NASDAQ:HA) wholly owned subsidiary Hawaiian Airlines reported decent traffic figures for July. Traffic (measured in Revenue Passenger Miles or RPMs) increased 2.2% to 1.58 billion in the month. Available Seat Miles (ASMs) inched up 0.1% to 1.77 billion in the period. With traffic growth outpacing capacity expansion, load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) improved 190 basis points (bps) to 89.3%. However, passenger count declined 1.9% in the month to approximately 1.1 million.

During the first seven months of 2019, the carrier recorded 2.9% rise in RPMs while ASMs increased 2.2%. As a result, load factor was up 60 bps to 86.6%. However, passenger count slipped 2.1% on a year-to-date basis.

Disappointing Price Performance

Shares of Hawaiian Holdings have shed 2.6% of their value on a year-to-date basis against its industry's growth of 6.5% in the same timeframe.

The below-par price performance is mainly due to the fact that the company is struggling as a result of increased competition in its primary market, Hawaii, following Southwest Airlines’ (NYSE:LUV) entry. The decline in passenger count on a year-to-date basis can be attributed to the increased competition.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Hawaiian Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space include Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) , both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Copa Holdings and Delta have rallied 29% and 9%, respectively in a year’s time.

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