Airline Stock Roundup: Virgin America Outperforms In Q3, Delta’s October Traffic Impresses On Capacity Cuts

The past week saw California-based low-cost carrier Virgin America (VA – Snapshot Report) churning out impressive financial numbers for the third quarter of 2015, with both earnings and revenues exceeding expectations.

On the traffic front, airline behemoth Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL – Analyst Report) reported impressive traffic data for October on the back of substantial international capacity reduction. However, Alaska Air Group (ALK – Analyst Report), unlike Delta, reported a decrease in its October load factor (% of seats filled with passengers), as capacity growth outpaced the rise in air traffic for the month.

On the price front, the NYSE ARCA Airline index climbed 2.7% to $93.75 over the past week on the back of weak oil prices.

(Read the last Airline Stock Roundup for Oct 28, 2015).

Recap of the Past Week’s Most Important Stories

1. As has been the case with carriers who have already reported their third quarter financial numbers, low fuel costs aided Virgin America’s quarterly results as well. The low-cost carrier, which went public in Nov 2014, reported earnings of $1.64 per share outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7 cents.

Operating revenues came in at $410.9 million, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $406 million and the year-ago figure by 1.3% (read more: Virgin America Q3 Earnings, Revenues Top on Low Fuel Cost).

2. Delta is living up to its forecast to reduce international capacity in the fourth quarter of 2015. On the third quarter conference call, the carrier stated that it will cut its international capacity in the fourth quarter by 4.5% with major reductions in Japan, Brazil, Russia, and the Middle East. A 4% cut in its international capacity to match the weak demand aided the carrier’s October traffic results.

Airline traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles, went up 3.5% year over year on a consolidated basis. Consolidated capacity or available seat miles (ASMs) declined 0.2% on the international capacity cuts. Load factor on a consolidated basis was up 310 basis points (bps) to 86.9%. The company registered a completion factor of 100%, with 92.1% of its flights on schedule.