The Zacks Airline industry has been benefiting from buoyant air travel demand, both on the domestic and international fronts. Upbeat passenger volumes have always been acting as a tailwind. Higher bookings contribute to the airlines’ top-line performance. While air travel demand is particularly strong on the leisure front, business travel has also made an encouraging comeback.
Further, the decline in expenses on fuel represents another tailwind for the industry. The southward movement of oil pricesbodes well for the bottom-line growth of airlines. This is because fuel expenses are a significant input cost for airlines.
On the flip side, the prospects of the industry players are dented by high labor costs. With U.S. airlines grappling with a labor shortage in the post-COVID high-demand scenario, the bargaining power of various labor groups has naturally increased. As a result, we have seen pay-hike deals being inked in the space. This is resulting in a spike in labor costs. Moreover, production delays at Boeing BA are hurting the fleet-related plans of airlines in the United States. Weak pricing power also remains an overhang.
Given this backdrop, let’s take a look at the August 2025 traffic reports issued by Copa Holdings CPA, Allegiant Travel CompanyALGT, LATAM Airlines Group (LTM) and Ryanair Holdings RYAAY.
August 2025 Traffic Reports: CPA, ALGT, LTM, RYAAY
Copa Holdings
Based in Panama City, Panama, Copa Holdings is gaining from upbeat passenger volumes. Driven by high passenger volumes, Copa Holdings’ revenue passenger miles (RPM: a measure of air traffic) improved on a year-over-year basis in August 2025.
To match the demand swell, CPA is increasing its capacity. In August, available seat miles (a measure of capacity) increased 5.8% year over year. RPM improved 9.8% year over year. Since traffic outpaced capacity expansion, the load factor (the percentage of seats filled by passengers) rose to 88.3% from 85.1% in August 2024.
Allegiant
Allegiant recently reported encouraging traffic numbers for August 2025.
Scheduled traffic (measured in revenue passenger miles) rose 12.1% from the August 2024 levels. Capacity (measured in available seat miles) for scheduled service rose 14.6% year over year. Although traffic improved on a year-over-year basis, it failed to outpace capacity expansion. As a result, the load factor in August 2025 declined to 82.6% from 84.5% a year ago.
Total departures (scheduled services) grew 15.9% in August 2025 from a year ago. However, its average stage length (miles) fell 1.1% year over year.
For the total system (including scheduled service and fixed fee contract), Allegiant carried 12.5% more passengers in August 2025 than the year-ago level. System-wide capacity improved 14.4% in August 2025 on a year-over-year basis.
The fuel price per gallon in August 2025 is estimated to have been $2.55.
LATAM Airlines
LATAM Airlines reported a 9.4% year-over-year increase in consolidated capacity for August 2025, measured in available seat-kilometers (ASK). The uptick was driven by a 12% increase in the group’s international operations and an 11.3% increase in LATAM Airlines Brazil’s domestic capacity.
LTM’s consolidated traffic, measured in revenue passenger-kilometers (RPK), increased 10.8% year over year. As traffic outpaced capacity expansion, the consolidated load factor grew by 1.1 percentage points from August 2024 to 85.4% in August 2025, maintaining healthy load factors across all business segments.
During the month, LATAM Airlines transported almost 7.7 million passengers, an increase of 9.1% year over year.
Ryanair Holdings
European carrier, Ryanair, reported solid traffic numbers for August 2025, driven by upbeat air-travel demand. The number of passengers transported on Ryanair flights was 21 million in August 2025, reflecting a 2% year-over-year increase.
Apart from year-over-year growth, RYAAY’s August traffic also reflects a straight eight-month improvement at a stretch from the beginning of 2025. RYAAY’s August traffic was higher than the July reading of 20.7 million, the June reading of 19.9 million, the May reading of 19.6 million, the April reading of 18.3 million, the March reading of 15 million, the February reading of 12.6 million and the January reading of 12.4 million.
The August load factor of 96% remained flat on a year-over-year basis and sequential basis, reflecting consistent passenger demand for the airline's services. The August load factor of 96% was higher than the load factor of 95% reported in June and May, the load factor of 93% reported in April and March, the load factor of 92% reported in February 2025 and 91% reported in January 2025.
In August 2025, RYAAY operated more than 114,000 flights. This marks an improvement from 113,000 flights operated in July 2025, 109,000 flights operated in June 2025, 108,000 flights operated in May 2025, 103,000 flights in April 2025, 84,000 flights in March 2025, and 71,360 flights in February 2025. In January 2025, growth at RYAAY was hampered by 38 delayed Boeing deliveries.
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The Boeing Company (BA): Free Stock Analysis Report Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY): Free Stock Analysis Report Copa Holdings, S.A. (CPA): Free Stock Analysis Report Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT): Free Stock Analysis Report LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (LTM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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