According to data just released by Brazilian Airline Gol, in September, that company recorded a 26.6% growth in air traffic demand compared to September of last year.
Gol attributes the good numbers to three main factors: the increased supply and improved distribution of seats due to the merger of Gol and Varig's operations in the fourth quarter of last year, the continued revitalization of the SMILES program (Latin America's largest mileage program with more than 6.4 million members) and competition in the domestic market, with successive fare reductions that drove up demand sharply in September.
In this scenario, domestic market demand moved up by 36.4% over September 2008 and by 6.5% over August 2009. However, the factors behind this demand increase were partially offset by the fewer number of days in September compared to August.
International demand dropped by 22.4% year-on-year due to the reduction in the supply of seats on less profitable international routes.
In comparison with August 2009, international demand rose by 21.1% due to the same factors that drove domestic demand and the recovery of traffic to Chile and Argentina, since the end of winter has led to a substantial reduction in H1N1 flu cases.
On the capacity front, seating capacity per kilometer flown climbed by 8.7% over September 2008, mainly due to the expansion of the operating fleet and a 4.2% decline in consolidated capacity in comparison with August 2009, due to the reduction in the supply of seats in the international market.
Operating Data   September  September  % Chg.   August    % Chg.
     2009 *     2008 *   (YoY)    2009 *     (MoM)
Total System
ASK (mm) (1)Â Â Â Â Â 3,289.7Â Â Â Â 3,027.4Â Â Â Â 8.7%Â Â Â Â 3,432.6Â Â Â Â -4.2%
RPK (mm) (2)Â Â Â Â Â 2,184.6Â Â Â Â 1,725.3Â Â Â 26.6%Â Â Â Â 2,025.9Â Â Â Â Â 7.8%
Load Factor (3)   66.4%       57.0%  9.4 pp      59.0%   7.4 pp
Domestic Market
ASK (mm) (1)Â Â Â Â Â 2,922.1Â Â Â Â 2,547.5Â Â Â 14.7%Â Â Â Â 3,019.0Â Â Â Â -3.2%
RPK (mm) (2)Â Â Â Â Â 1,962.6Â Â Â Â 1,439.3Â Â Â 36.4%Â Â Â Â 1,842.6Â Â Â Â Â 6.5%
Load Factor (3)    67.2%      56.5% 10.7 pp      61.0%   6.2 pp
International
Market
ASK (mm) (1)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 367.5Â Â Â Â Â Â 479.9Â Â -23.4%Â Â Â Â Â Â 413.5Â Â Â -11.1%
RPK (mm) (2)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 222.0Â Â Â Â Â Â 286.0Â Â -22.4%Â Â Â Â Â Â 183.3Â Â Â Â 21.1%
Load Factor (3)    60.4%      59.6%  0.8 pp      44.3%  16.1 pp
(*) September 2009 preliminary figures; September 2008 and August 2009 ANAC figures.
The utilization ratio of Gol's operational fleet (measured in block hours) remained above 12 hours/day.
As a result of the highly competitive price scenario in the domestic market, average net yield in September was around R$ 17.00 cents, taking the quarterly yield slightly to approximately R$ 19.00 cents.
Despite the decrease in average net yield, the Company has maintained its operating cash generation in line with the two previous quarters.
Operating Data            3Q09      3Q08     % Chg.    2Q09   % Chg.
Total System – Quarter
ASK (mm) (1)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 10,212.7Â Â 9,909.3Â Â Â Â Â 3.1%Â Â Â 9,635.2Â Â Â Â 6.0%
RPK (mm) (2)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6,705.8Â Â 5,942.5Â Â Â Â 12.8%Â Â Â 5,794.7Â Â Â 15.7%
Load Factor (3)           65.7%    60.0%   5.7 pp     60.1%  5.5 pp
(1) Available seat kilometers, or ASK, represents the aircraft seating capacity multiplied by the number of kilometers the seats are flown.
(2) Revenue passenger kilometers, or RPK, represents the number of kilometers flown by revenue passengers.
(3) Load factor represents the percentage of aircraft seating capacity that is actually utilized (calculated by dividing RPK by ASK).
