Top 5 Most Profitable Airlines in the Americas, The Only Ones!

Economatica reports today on the most profitable airlines in the Americas. The top five among the majors are (revenue and ROI % YTD shown):

1. TAM (Brazil), $674M, TAM on NYSE, +81.2%YTD
2. GOL (Brazil), $267.2M, GOL on the NYSE, +178.72%
3. LAN (Chile), $122.3M, LFL, +76.4%
4. Skywest, $64.2M, SKYW, -20.2%
5. Jetblue, $47M, JBLU, -26.7%

Brazilian airlines TAM and Gol are the most profitable in Latin America and the United States in 209 (until September). Of the airlines that are regularly traded in this sector in the region, TAM has the largest net profit in the period from January to September, with $674.115M, followed by Gol, with $267.184M. Third in the survey appears Lan Chile, with $122.292M, ahead of the American Skywest, $64.158M, and JetBlue, $47M.

The other major airlines have accumulated losses in the same nine months this year:

6. Southwest (-$16M), LUV, 0%
7. U.S. Airways (-$125M), LCC, -62.4%
8. Continental Airlines (-$367M), CAL, -21.6%
9. UAL Corp. (-$411M), UAUA, -40.0%
10. AMR (-$1.124B) AMR, -48.5%
11. Delta Airlines (-$1.212B), DAL, -35.7%

Please note that we track all latin-american ADRs live here.

Charts:

TAM:


GOL:


LFL:


TAM's net income was $195.689M, higher than that of Lan Chile, in second with $54.86M, and Gol, in third place with U.S. $44.970M.

TAM's fares have dropped 3.7% between the second and third quarters of this year, on average, to 20.5 cents per mile. On international flights, the yield - the gross revenue passenger divided by the number of customers - showed a 3.6% increase in reais. However, domestic routes fell 7% in prices.

"Although the international market has shown a reduction in demand and occupancy rates, compared to the same period of 2008, we are seeing a strong improvement in the sector" said TAM. The company notes in its financial statement, that the domestic market is recovering, with the return of passenger business travelers, motion-driven economic recovery. TAM cites, also, stimulation of the competitive landscape for demand, especially during the month of September.

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