Copa Holdings, the parent company of Americas-based carrier Copa, has reported a net profit of $88.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2022 (Q4 2022).
The profit, which equated to $2.23 per share, would have been over $177 million were it not for "the continued effect of high fuel prices as well as the negative mark-to-market effect of the company's convertible notes".
For the full year 2022, the company reported a net profit of $348.1 million or $8.58 per share, as well as an operating profit of $450.4 million and an operating margin of 15.2%, compared to an adjusted operating profit of $435.5 million and an operating margin of 16.1% in 2019.
Total revenues for Q422 increased 30.6% to $890.6 million, as compared to Q419 revenues. Yields increased 20.4% to 15.1 cents and revenue per available seat mile increased by 3.4% to 13.7 cents, with adjusted operating cost per available seat mile up 10.3% from 9.3 cents in Q419 to 10.3 cents in Q422, driven by an increase of 63.1% in the price of fuel per gallon.
Passenger traffic, measured in terms of revenue passenger mile, increased by 7.5% compared to Q419, while capacity increased by 5.9%, lifting load factor by 1.4 percentage points to 86.6%.
Copa ended the quarter with "approximately $1.1 billion in cash" and short-term and long-term investments, around 38.3% of the last twelve months' revenues and down around $100 million on the end of 2021, and closed the quarter with total debt, including lease liabilities, of US$1.7bn, up $100 million year-on-year.
It took delivery of two Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, taking it to 97 aircraft in all by the end of the year -67 Boeing 737-800s, 20 Boeing 737 MAX 9s, 9 Boeing 737-700s, and 1 Boeing 737-800 freighter.
In January 2023, Copa took delivery of one Boeing 737 MAX 9 and expects to receive one additional aircraft by the end of Q1 2023.
A highlight for the carrier was recognition by OAG "as the most on-time airline in Latin America in 2022".
