Pedro Heilbron
Analyst · Deutsche Bank
Thank you, Raffa. Good morning to all, and thank you for participating in our fourth quarter and full year 2013 earnings call. I'd like to start, as usual, by congratulating our co-workers for their efforts in delivering an outstanding fourth quarter and a great year. 2013 was another excellent year in terms of financial and operational results, and would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our world-class team. Our vision remains to be the best option for intra-Latin America travel by connecting passengers in Panama, the most complete and efficient hub in the region, by offering our customers great service and convenient schedules, and by delivering world-class operational standards, including world leading on-time performance, which ultimately results in industry-leading financial results. Among our main highlights for 2013: We were able to deliver another year of very strong growth, as traffic increased 16% on 14% capacity expansion. We continued to strengthen our network by adding 2 new cities, Boston in July, and Tampa in December, our eighth and ninth destinations in the United States. So we ended the year serving 66 destinations in 29 countries in the Americas, by far the most complete and convenient network for Intra-Latin America travel. On top of these 2 new cities, during the year, we added frequencies to 13 of our existing destinations. During the year, we continued enhancing our customer's travel experience by launching our fourth Copa Club in San Jose, Costa Rica. Despite considerable capacity expansion for the year and an increased length of haul, we were able to grow load factors, while maintaining yields. This resulted in very healthy unit revenues, which combined with very competitive unit cost, led to another year of strong financial results. During 2013, we also took delivery of 7 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, to end the year with a consolidated fleet of 90 aircraft. Our deliveries featured the Boeing Sky Interior and came equipped with our new in-seat in-flight entertainment system and enhanced business class seats designed for our longer missions. We also continued looking for efficiencies. We implemented an in-house heavy maintenance line and accomplished 8 C checks during the year, resulting in cost savings. On the operational front, our team, once again, delivered very strong numbers, with Copa earnings on-time performance coming in close to 89% for international service. This, along with a flight completion factor of 99.6%, placed us, once again, among the best and most reliable airlines in the industry. Last, but not least, we're proud to have received the 2013 Sky Track Awards for Best Airline and Best Cabin and Airport Staff in Central America and the Caribbean. So we continue to deliver what our passengers expect from us, a superior network for intra-Latin America travel with more choices, better schedules and a world-class product. Now, looking at the main highlights for the fourth quarter. Excluding special items, we delivered an adjusted operating margin of 23.2% and an adjusted net margin of 20.4%, the best quarter all year. Passenger traffic came in very strong, increasing almost 11% year-over-year on 9.5% capacity expansion. Yields increased almost 6%, which led to a year-over-year increase in unit revenues of over 6%. Additionally, on the cost front, adjusted unit costs came in slightly lower, mainly due to a lower fuel price year-over-year. In terms of our network, in the month of December, we added frequencies to several important markets, specifically: an eighth daily flight to San Jose, Costa Rica; a sixth daily flight to Cancun; a fifth daily to Cali, Columbia; a fourth daily to Punta Cana; a third daily to New York; and second daily frequencies to Las Vegas, Asuncion, Paraguay and Pereira, Colombia. Looking at our fleet, we added 1 Boeing 737-800 during the quarter, ending the year with a fleet of 90 aircraft. For this year, we expect another year of double-digit capacity expansion as we will add 8 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft, closing the year with 98 total aircraft. Similar to our 2013 strategy, this year's incremental capacity will be mainly focused on adding frequencies to existing markets. Our expansion plan for the first half of 2014 includes: Montréal, our second Canadian destination; Fort Lauderdale, our 10th city in the U.S; and Georgetown, Guyana, which will become the 30th country we serve. We will also be increasing frequencies to some of our larger markets, such as San Jose, Costa Rica and Bogotá, Colombia; and adding second daily frequencies to Brasília, Aruba and San Andres, Columbia. In addition to our network expansion, we will continue implementing initiatives to improve our product and services, as well as generate efficiencies. This year, we will continue to improve our website and mobile capabilities as it tailors to further reductions and distribution cost. We will initiate construction of a new maintenance hangar to expand our heavy maintenance program. We will be the first airline in Latin America to implement Scimitar Winglets on our 8 2014 deliveries and we will retrofit 10 existing aircraft, which will generate approximately an additional 1.7% fuel reduction on this aircraft. Another important initiative for 2014 will be to continue working with the airport in Panama in the design and construction of the South Terminal expansion project, which will add another 20 jet bridges to our connecting center. This expansion, which is currently ahead of schedule, should be ready in the second half of 2016, ensuring that our hub has the necessary infrastructure to accommodate our future growth. Turning to our current demand environment, and as you can see from the January traffic figures we just released, we're having a good start to 2014. Traffic for the month came in very strong, growing 10.5% on 9.6% capacity expansion and our load factor of 80% was 0.6 percentage points higher year-over-year. Now, turning to the economic front. Prospects for the region, while still quite favorable, have slowed down somewhat, yet reports indicate the region should grow around 3% in 2014, which will be similar to slightly better than 2013. Air traffic growth is expected to surpass GDP growth. So, overall, we remain positive on our region's growth prospects and the strength of our network. Our home country, Panama, continues to outperform the region. For 2013, forecast calls for approximately 7.5% GDP expansion, and in 2014, Panama is expected to grow about 7%. This should have a positive impact on the demand for our services, as we continue to expand and strengthen even more our network dominance for intra-Latin America travel. So to summarize, we're pleased by our fourth quarter and full year results and this year's demand outlook. The overall economic outlook for our region remains positive. Our network continues to expand and its long-term growth prospects remain strong. Our team continues to deliver world-class operational performance and we're implementing the necessary initiatives to strengthen even more our Hub of the Americas, improve our product and maintain our operating efficiencies. So we're well-positioned strategically, financially and operationally to take advantage of future opportunities while continuing to deliver world-class financial results. With this, I will turn it over to Jose, who will go over our financial results.