JetBlue is expanding its premium-class Mint product, which has drawn attention from corporate travel departments since its launch this summer, airline executives said during a quarterly earnings conference call on Thursday.
Outgoing JetBlue CEO David Barger said in addition to being "pleasantly surprised" by the level of interest he has seen for Mint from corporate travel departments, the carrier also has seen "strong demand, notably from JetBlue customers who did not fly JetBlue on [transcontinental] routes." Mint, which offers lie-flat seats and enhanced amenities, began in June on a single daily flight between New York JFK and Los Angeles International. By the end of this year, JetBlue plans to offer Mint on seven daily flights between the two airports and is adding it to its JFK-San Francisco route on Oct. 26, according to Barger.
Strong demand for Mint also spurred JetBlue recently to restructure its fares by bumping up the top price, he added. When launched, Mint initially had three fare classes: nonrefundable fare levels of $599 and $799 and a refundable fare of $999. Under the new structure, the most expensive fare has been changed to a "walk-up nonrefundable" fare, with a new $1,209 refundable fare level added, said JetBlue president Robin Hayes, who will take over as CEO on Feb. 16.
For the third quarter, JetBlue reported net income of $79 million, up from $71 million in the third quarter of 2013. Operating revenues were $1.5 billion, a third-quarter record for the airline.
Traffic measured in revenue passenger miles increased 5.9 percent year over year, and capacity increased 4.5 percent. JetBlue's load factor in the quarter was up 1.2 percentage points to 86.2 percent. The carrier projects its capacity will increase between 5 percent and 7 percent in the fourth quarter.
The carrier's average third-quarter fare increased 0.5 percent year over year to $165.80, and passenger revenue per available seat mile increased 2.4 percent. Passenger yield increased 0.9 percent year over year.