JetBlue Airways posts monthly data, February traffic jumps 6%

JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU) announced its preliminary traffic results for February 2019 on March 12, with monthly traffic improving 6% on a 7.5% yearly jump in capacity.

Load factor for the month was 81.5%, 1.1 points lower than that of February 2018. On-time performance was 70%, while the preliminary completion factor was 98.5%.

JetBlue still expects first-quarter RASM (revenue per available seat mile) to be between -3.5% and -1.5%.

For February 2019, revenue passenger miles rose 6% to 3.91 billion while revenue passengers improved 1.7% to 3.12 million.

There were 27,638 departures in the month, up 1.3% year-over-year.

The average stage length in February 2019 rose 5% to 1,159 miles.

LOOKING BACK AT RESULTS

Back in January, JetBlue beat market estimates on revenue and earnings for the fourth quarter of 2018, sending shares up 3.5% shortly after the announcement.

Total operating revenues grew 12% , while reported net income slipped 74.1% on the lack of a one-time tax benefit it had a year ago.

During the quarter, revenue per available seat mile (RASM) grew 2.4% year-over-year. Load factor dropped by 0.6 points to 82.5% year-over-year.

Also see: JetBlue Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

Back then, JetBlue said that it expects the average price per gallon of fuel to be $2.01 in the first quarter of 2019.

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