Privately-held Porter Airlines doesn’t have to divulge detailed statistics on traffic and load factor. So when it did just that for the first time yesterday it’s not surprising that the numbers reflected good news. After all, Porter suspended an IPO in June because of weak investor demand, largely driven by concern over half-empty planes.
According to the numbers, Porter’s August load factor was 63.9% up 11.4 points over the same month a year earlier. While nowhere near the low-to-mid-80s load factors posted by WestJet and Air Canada in August, Porter says it needs to fill just under half of its seats to break even.
In its April IPO prospectus Porter said that its first-quarter load factor, or the proportion of available seats filled by paying customers, was 47%.
Porter president Robert Deluce told the Globe and Mail that he is anticipating a robust 2010 second half and expects to take another shot at the IPO or another form of financing in the first half of 2011.
“We have some good momentum. We’re quite confident that these year-over-year gains that we’ve experienced will continue,” he said. “It helps with a recovering economy and the return of business and leisure travel.”
In other highlights of Porter’s August figures, Available Seat Miles (ASMs) grew 69% year over year from 59.1 million to 99.7 million while Revenue Passenger Miles (RPMs) increased 105% to 63.7 million from 31 million in August, 2009.
“The improvements shown in 2010, particularly in the second half of the year, largely reflect a fully deployed 20 aircraft fleet as of this spring,” stated Deluce in Porter’s press release. “Capacity is being absorbed rapidly as new routes and additional flight frequencies mature in the market.”
Deluce says Porter will continue to release monthly traffic statistics going forward.
