jetBlue Airways A320-232 (c/n 2160) N586JB "I Love New York" taxies to Rwy 30 at Long Beach Airport (LGB/KLGB) on April 27, 2011.
(Photo by Michael Carter)
JetBlue Airways posted a first-quarter net profit of $4 million, down 71.4% from net income of $14 million in the year-ago period. CEO Dave Barger blamed the profit decline on a “really tough first quarter” in terms of severe winter weather in the US northeast.
JetBlue canceled 4,100 flights in the March quarter owing to weather, costing the carrier $50 million in revenue and reducing operating income by $35 million.
Barger told analysts and reporters the carrier expects its performance to improve over the remainder of 2014.
He said JetBlue is focused on the debut of Mint, its new premium US transcontinental product—which will feature lie-flat seats and personal “suites” on New York JFK-Los Angeles Airbus A321 flights starting in June—and is seeking to carve out a third business model between “super discounters” and traditional network carriers. “We look at playbooks from both of those models” in forming JetBlue’s strategy, Barger said.
JetBlue reported first-quarter revenue of $1.35 billion, up 3.8% year-over-year, while expenses increased 5.5% to $1.31 billion. Operating income was $41 million, down 30.5% from an operating profit of $59 million in the 2013 March quarter.
JetBlue’s first-quarter traffic rose 1.8% to 8.66 billion RPMs on a 2.7% increase in capacity to 10.42 billion ASMs, producing a load factor 83.1%, down 0.8 point. Yield rose 1.8% to 14.2 cents.
(Aaron Karp - ATWOnline News)
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