Air Canada prospects brighten on US airline numbers

Improving December metrics for US airlines bode well for their peers north of the border, particularly Air Canada. Following Delta Air Lines' report last week and Southwest Airlines’ release Tuesday, both United Air Lines and American Airlines Group unveiled better close-in yields after the bell Tuesday. Doug Taylor, an airlines analyst at Canaccord Genuity, thinks the ongoing trend of positive data points from US network carriers as having a positive read-throughs for Canadian airlines. Taylor expects Air Canada to see the biggest benefit, since it has more in common with US network carriers. However, the analyst noted that both Air Canada and WestJet Airlines have seen their trading discount to US peers widen on an EV/EBITDAR basis, despite recent rallies in both stocks. <br/>