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10-24-2006, 09:18 PM

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Southerncowboyz

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ATW: JetBlue reports small third-quarter loss, pledges capacity reduction

JetBlue Airways will cut its A320 and Embraer 190 fleets over the next three years and said it is on the verge of reaching one or more codeshare arrangements with international airlines as it strives to return to the black following its third loss-making quarter out of the past four.
The carrier yesterday announced a $500,000 loss in the three-month period ended Sept. 30 compared to a $2.7 million profit in the third quarter of 2005.
Capacity growth in 2007 will be 14%-17% rather than the 18%-20% announced previously. JetBlue did not offer details on the scope or timing of the fleet reduction but did report a $6 million gain from the sale of five A320s to Blue Wings (ATWOnline, Oct. 18).
"Results this quarter demonstrate our crewmembers' success in their ongoing focus on cost control as we work to maximize productivity and institutionalize low-cost-carrier spending habits throughout our airline," CEO David Neeleman said. "Unfortunately, the revenue environment during the quarter remained challenging as we continued our new market expansion and saw lower than expected overall demand due in part to security related concerns."
Third-quarter revenues rose 38.7% year-over-year to $628 million and expenses climbed 33.7% to $587 million, nearly tripling operating income to $41 million from $14 million in the year-ago quarter. Heavy interest expenses and nonoperating costs dragged the airline into the red.
Traffic rose 10.5% to 6.06 billion RPMs against a 19% surge in capacity to 7.54 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 6.2 points to 80.4%. JetBlue's efforts to cultivate higher yields resulted in a 23.5% increase to 9.72 cents as average fare climbed 8.2% to $123.41. Unit revenues (operating) were up 16.5% to 8.33 cents. Operating CASM increased 12.3% to 7.79 cents, or 4.7% to 4.98 cents excluding fuel.
For the nine-month period, the company was $18 million in the hole. It had earned a profit of $22 million at the same point last year. Revenues were up 37.8% to $1.73 billion while expenses climbed 41.7% to $1.67 billion, reducing operating profit 20.8% to $63 million.

by Brian Straus

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