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.
