Copa Holdings, S.A. CPA reported traffic numbers for January 2025 on the back of upbeat air-travel demand. Driven by high passenger volumes, revenue passenger miles (a measure of traffic) improved on a year-over-year basis in January.

To match the demand swell, CPA is increasing its capacity. In January, available seat miles (a measure of capacity) increased 22.1% year over year. Revenue passenger miles increased 23.6% year over year. Since traffic outpaced capacity expansion, the load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) rose to 86.4% from 85.3% in January 2024.

Apart from Copa Holdings, we find another airline company — Ryanair Holdings RYAAY, a European carrier, reported solid traffic numbers for January 2025, driven by upbeat air-travel demand.

The number of passengers transported on Ryanair flights was 12.4 million in January 2025, reflecting a 2% year-over-year increase. The January load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) improved to 91% from 89% in the year-ago period.

As we know, production delays at Boeing BA have been hurting the fleet-related plans of most airline companies, and it is no different for RYAAY. RYAAY's growth was hampered by 38 delayed deliveries from Boeing.

Ryanair expects its fiscal 2025 traffic to reach almost 200 million (+9%) passengers, subject to no further adverse news on Boeing delivery delays. This marks an improvement from the prior view of reaching 198-200 million passengers (+8%).

CPA’s Zacks Rank & Price Performance

CPA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Shares of CPA have lost 10.5% over the past three months against 11.1% growth of the Zacks Airline industry.

Three-Month Price Comparison

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

A Key Pick

A better-ranked stock in the Zacks Airline industry is United Airlines UAL. The stock currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

United Airlines has an expected earnings growth rate of 21.11% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UAL’s 2025 earnings per share has been revised 10.6% upward in the past 60 days.

The company has an encouraging track record with respect to the earnings surprise, having surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters. The average beat is 22.93%. Shares of UAL have surged 161.2% in the past year.

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The Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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