Airlines See Uplifting Sign
See Story
Separately, in a research report Lehman Brothers made the following comments:
ATA revenue for May last night a touch lower than our estimates, but essentially in line. We expect strong RASM comparisons to continue through the summer.
* The revenue environment remains strong amid stable economic conditions and lower capacity growth than last year. Capacity plans are creeping upward in the domestic entity, but we expect growth will remain well below year ago levels, driving strength in RASM comparisons through the summer. July should be the toughest month (flattish) while August and September should see meaningful year non year gains.
* Domestic RASM increased 5.7% vs. our 6-7% estimate and system RASM improved 5.2% versus our +6-7% forecast. International strength continued in May with positive comps in all regions except the Pacific. The Atlantic (+7.0%) and Latin (+ 5.0%) entities realized solid gains year over year. RASM in the Pacific increased only 0.7%, which is somewhat underwhelming given recent performance in the entity; Northwest and United are the most levered to Pacific
performance.
* Preliminary ATA June RASM forecast +2-3% for domestic and system, slightly reduced from our previous +3-4% for both regions to reflect slightly lower than anticipated May results.
* Next data point is CAL's June RASM, which should come out first few days of July. CAL's consolidated RASM increased by 8.5-9.5% in May, and we expect the carrier will continue to outperform (to some extent on easier comps) in June; we are forecasting a 4.5-5.5% consolidated RASM improvement for Continental in June.
Regards,
USA320Pilot
See Story
Separately, in a research report Lehman Brothers made the following comments:
ATA revenue for May last night a touch lower than our estimates, but essentially in line. We expect strong RASM comparisons to continue through the summer.
* The revenue environment remains strong amid stable economic conditions and lower capacity growth than last year. Capacity plans are creeping upward in the domestic entity, but we expect growth will remain well below year ago levels, driving strength in RASM comparisons through the summer. July should be the toughest month (flattish) while August and September should see meaningful year non year gains.
* Domestic RASM increased 5.7% vs. our 6-7% estimate and system RASM improved 5.2% versus our +6-7% forecast. International strength continued in May with positive comps in all regions except the Pacific. The Atlantic (+7.0%) and Latin (+ 5.0%) entities realized solid gains year over year. RASM in the Pacific increased only 0.7%, which is somewhat underwhelming given recent performance in the entity; Northwest and United are the most levered to Pacific
performance.
* Preliminary ATA June RASM forecast +2-3% for domestic and system, slightly reduced from our previous +3-4% for both regions to reflect slightly lower than anticipated May results.
* Next data point is CAL's June RASM, which should come out first few days of July. CAL's consolidated RASM increased by 8.5-9.5% in May, and we expect the carrier will continue to outperform (to some extent on easier comps) in June; we are forecasting a 4.5-5.5% consolidated RASM improvement for Continental in June.
Regards,
USA320Pilot