Copa Holdings has reported net income of US$102.3 million for 1Q17 or earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.41, compared to net income of US$115.5 million or earnings per share of US$2.74 in 1Q16.
Excluding special items, Copa would have reported an adjusted net income of US$103.2 million, or adjusted EPS of US$2.43, compared to an adjusted net income of US$69.9 million or adjusted EPS of US$1.66 in 1Q16. Special items for 1Q16 include a non-cash gain of US$27.4 million associated with the mark-to-market of fuel hedge contracts, and a US$18.1 million gain related to foreign currency fluctuations.
Operating income for 1Q17 came in at US$117.5 million, representing a 24.4% increase over operating income of US$94.5 million in 1Q16, as a result of 4.3% additional capacity, and a 6.0% increase in unit revenue per available seat mile (RASM), partly offset by a 3.3% increase in unit costs. Operating margin for 1Q17 came in at 19.1%, compared to an operating margin of 16.9% in 1Q16.
Total revenues for 1Q17 increased 10.6% to US$616.7 million. Yield per passenger mile increased 0.9% to 12.7 cents and RASM came in at 10.6 cents, or 6.0% above 1Q16.
For 1Q17, consolidated passenger traffic grew 9.9% while consolidated capacity grew 4.3%. As a result, consolidated load factor for the quarter increased 4.1 percentage points to 81.5%.
Operating cost per available seat mile (CASM) increased 3.3%, from 8.3 cents in 1Q16 to 8.6 cents in 1Q17. CASM excluding fuel costs increased 1.6% from 6.1 cents in 1Q16 to 6.2 cents in 1Q17.
Copa Holdings took delivery of two B737-800s, ending the quarter with consolidated fleet of 101 aircraft - 66 Boeing 737-800s, 14 Boeing 737-700s, and 21 Embraer-190s.
Copa Airlines reported consolidated on-time performance of 89.1% and a flight-completion factor of 99.9% for 1Q17, maintaining its position among the best in the industry.