Excluding special, items adjusted net income came in at $55.5 million, or $1.28 per share

PANAMA CITY, May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE: CPA), parent company of Copa Airlines and Aero Republica, today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2009 (1Q09). The terms 'Copa Holdings' or 'the Company' refer to the consolidated entity, whose operating subsidiaries are Copa Airlines and Aero Republica. The following financial and operating information, unless otherwise indicated, is presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Unless otherwise stated, all comparisons with prior periods refer to the first quarter of 2008 (1Q08).

OPERATING AND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

-- Copa Holdings reported net income of US$71.6 million for 1Q09, or diluted earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.65, an increase of 81.3% as compared to net income of US$39.5 million or diluted EPS of US$0.91 in 1Q08.

-- Excluding special items, which for 1Q09 included a US$16.2 million non-cash gain associated with the mark-to-market of fuel hedge contracts, Copa Holdings would have reported an adjusted net income of $55.5 million, or $1.28 per share, compared to an adjusted net income of US$37.7 million or US$0.87 per share for 1Q08. See the accompanying reconciliation of non-GAAP financial information to GAAP financial information included in the financial tables section of this earnings release.

-- Operating income for 1Q09 came in at US$68.9 million, despite a $19.9 million fuel hedge loss, representing an increase of 33.3% as compared to operating income of US$51.7 million for 1Q08. Operating margin increased from 17.5% to 22.3%, maintaining our position among the most profitable airlines in the industry.

-- In 1Q09, total revenues increased to US$308.8 million, representing growth of 4.3%, on a 17.0% capacity expansion. Yield per passenger mile decreased 6.2% to 16.2 cents and operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM) decreased 10.8% to 12.7 cents.

-- Revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increased 11.6% from 1.62 billion in 1Q08 to 1.81 billion in 1Q09, and available seat miles (ASMs) increased 17.0% from 2.08 billion in 1Q08 to 2.43 billion in 1Q09, with the Copa Airlines segment increasing 18.9% year-over-year and Aero Republica increasing 8.0%. Consolidated load factor decreased 3.6 percentage points to 74.4%. Underlying Break-even load factor for 1Q09 decreased 7.7 percentage points to 57.5% from 65.2% in 1Q08.

-- Operating cost per available seat mile (CASM) decreased 16.0%, from 11.8 cents in 1Q08 to 9.9 cents in 1Q09. CASM, excluding fuel costs, decreased 11.0% from 7.7 cents in 1Q08 to 6.8 cents in 1Q09.

-- Liquidity including cash, short term and long term investments, plus committed credit lines of US$31 million, ended the quarter at US$434.2 million, representing 33% of the last twelve months' revenues.

-- Copa Airlines ended the quarter with a fleet of 43 aircraft, consisting of 28 Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft and 15 Embraer-190 aircraft. Aero Republica received two Embraer-190 aircraft and ended the quarter with a fleet of 15 aircraft, consisting of 11 Embraer-190 and four MD-80 aircraft. Copa Holdings ended the quarter with a consolidated fleet of 58 aircraft.

-- For 1Q09, Copa Airlines reported on-time performance of 90.6% and a flight-completion factor of 99.6%, maintaining its position among the best in the industry.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

-- On May 6, the Copa Holdings Board of Directors declared an annual dividend of $0.37 per share. Although this dividend is the same amount per share paid in 2008, it represents 14% of 2008 consolidated net income.