Panama's Copa Airlines
Plans $250M In Capital Spending In 2010
By Inti Landauro, DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
PANAMA - Panama-based airline Copa Holding
SA (CPA) will invest $250 million in capital
expenditures in 2010 as part of its
expansion plans after weathering last year's
crisis.
Even though Latin and North America, the
regions where Copa operates, have suffered
from the world economic and financial
crisis, the airline did quite well last
year, Pedro Heilbron, the company's chief
executive, said Thursday in a lecture in New
York.
"The economic crisis that hit the world
didn't affect us," Heilbron said.
"In the first four months we had a two-digit
growth (of revenue passenger mile) and we
ended the last four months with two-digit
growth, really we only had a decline in
May-July with the H1N1 flu crisis," he said.
Copa ordered a record 23 Boeing (BA) 737
jets in 2009 (15 firms and eight options),
Heilbron said. The company also acquired an
option on 11 Embraer-190 (EMBR3.BR) jets.
The company plans to get eight new jets
delivered this year, while it already
discarded an old MD-80, he added.
Those new jets are from orders made in 2009
and before.
Heilbron is confident the economic rebound
expected in Latin America in 2010 will lift
air traffic and allow growth to continue.
The company, which will report its 2009 net
profit report next week, expects to increase
frequencies to Sao Paulo, Guatemala, Los
Angeles and Punta Cana, among others.
As it grows, Copa will keep on investing.
After the $250 million planned this year,
the Panamanian airline expects capital
spending of $158 million in 2011 and $151
million in 2012, Chief Financial Officer
Victor Vial said during the same lecture.
These two amounts might vary according to
the company's situation, he added.
Copa Airlines serves Central America, the
Caribbean and some destinations in the U.S.
and South America from its hub in Panama
City. The company also controls Colombian
domestic airline AeroRepublica.
The New York-traded shares of Copa Thursday
fell 3.5% to $49.84.
A group of Panamanian investors is Copa's
main shareholder. U.S. airlines Continental
Airlines Inc. (CAL) used to hold a minority
stake in Copa but sold it over the past few
years.
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