10 November, 2018

Azul and Copa Airlines announce new codeshare deal

with improved frequent flyer programme agreements


Azul Brazilian Airlines and Copa Airlines announced this week that they have agreed to a far-reaching cooperation agreement that connects the two largest route networks in Latin and South America. As part of this agreement, customers can conveniently connect to Azul’s unrivalled domestic network when flying Copa into and out of Brazil. This agreement means that Copa customers can now potentially access all of Azul’s 101 domestic destinations in Brazil, including 52 destinations not served by any other airline. In the near future, Azul will also place its code on Copa flights into and out of its Panama city hub, allowing Azul’s domestic customers to take advantage of the broadest network in Latin America. The benefits and convenience of a codeshare ticket include those of thru check-in and thru-baggage.


In addition to the codeshare agreement, Azul and Copa also announce today the launch of their frequent flyer cooperation agreement. Starting in December, members’ of TudoAzul, Azul’s loyalty program, and ConnectMiles, Copa’s loyalty program can now easily earn frequent flyer points when flying either airline.

"Copa Airlines is always looking for partnerships to offer the best travel experience and enhance our route network for our customers. This new partnership with Azul reinforces the company’s presence in Brazil as well as expands our connectivity domestically in this important country," said Dennis Cary, Commercial and Planning Senior Vice President, Copa Airlines.

"This codeshare agreement also allows us to offer more flight options to major cities in the Brazilian southeastern and northeastern regions to which we currently do not fly and which, through our Hub of the Americas, will be connected with Panama and the rest of the American continent bringing more opportunities and economic development to these cities," added Cary.

Azul also released its third-quarter results this week financial, here are the highlights.  

Operating income was R$174.1 million, representing a margin of 7.1%, even with the 25.1% devaluation of the Brazilian real and the 47.1% increase in fuel price per litre.EBITDAR increased 7.6% to R$675.4 million, representing a margin of 27.7%.Net income totalled R$116.6 million, compared to R$199.2 million in 3Q17.Passenger traffic increased 20.2% over a capacity increase of 19.3%, resulting in a higher load factor of 83.7%, 0.6 percentage points higher than in 3Q17.In addition to the double-digit growth in capacity, RASK increased 2.7% year over year. Assuming a flat stage-length, RASK rose 8.0% year over year.Total CASK increased 8.7% despite the intense currency volatility and the sharp increase in fuel. CASK ex-fuel decreased 1.8%. On an exchange rate and fuel neutral basis, CASK would have been lower by 6.8%.Net financial expenses decreased 9.4% to R$96.2 million due to the lower average cost of debt.At the end of 3Q18, our total liquidity1 position totalled R$4.1 billion, up R$ 1.0 billion compared to 3Q17, representing 46.2% of the last twelve months’ (LTM) revenues.Total debt considering the effect of currency swaps decreased R$99.6 million in the quarter to R$3.5 billion resulting in an adjusted net debt to EBITDAR leverage ratio of 4.2x.Azul’s operating fleet totalled 120 aircraft at the end of the quarter, including 17 next-generation A320neo aircraft, which represented 27% of total capacity. Average fleet utilization increased 10.5% year over year to 11.6 hours.Year to date, TudoAzul recorded a 36% increase in gross billings ex-Azul compared to the same period in 2017.Azul cargo recorded a 62% year-over-year increase in revenue.Azul was the most on-time airline in Brazil in 9M18 and one of the top five in the world, with an on-time performance of 87.1% (FlightStats).


(Images Azul/Copa Airlines)

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