Copa 737-800. Courtesy, Boeing

Copa Holdings, parent of Panama’s Copa Airlines and Copa Airlines Colombia (formerly Aero Republica), posted third-quarter net income of $ 70.3 million, nearly on par with a $ 71.5 million net profit earned in the prior-year period. The fast-growing airline company said full-year consolidated capacity will be 21% higher than full-year 2010 capacity while 2012 capacity will increase another 20%.

The growth is made possible by the addition of 10 Boeing 737-800s this year and another 10 of the type expected to join the fleet in 2012.

Third-quarter revenue leaped 31.3% year-over-year to $ 476.8 million while expenses increased 38.2% to $ 374.7 million, including a 58.8% spike in aircraft fuel costs to $ 145.8 million. Operating profit was $ 102.2 million, up 38.2%. Net income fell slightly owing to a $ 19.8 million mark-to-market loss on fuel hedging.

Third-quarter traffic increased 21.6% to 2.66 billion RPMs on a 19.1% rise in capacity to 3.45 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 77.1%, up 1.6 points. Yield rose 9.1% to 17.2 cents.