JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) said preliminary passenger revenue
per available seat mile fell 6% during December from a year earlier
and it expects the key airline industry metric will come in
relatively flat for the fourth quarter.
The discount carrier last month had estimated that the measure,
known as PRASM, could decline as much as 1% in the quarter.
JetBlue marks the fifth big U.S. airline to record weaker
revenue performance for December. American Airlines Group Inc.
(AAL), Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV),
and Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) have reported that unit revenue, or
the amount taken in for each passenger flown a mile, was lower in
December than a year earlier.
JetBlue also reduced its guidance for the average price per
gallon of fuel it expects to record in the quarter, including
hedging impacts, by a dime to $2.70.
For December, JetBlue said that passenger traffic increased 5.6%
while capacity rose 7.2%. The percentage of seats filled--or load
factor--declined 1.3 percentage points to 81.6%.
JetBlue Airways in October increased its third-quarter profit by
11% from a year earlier to $79 million, but the discount carrier
missed Wall Street estimates.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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