JetBlue Airways for 2013
posted "record" fourth-quarter and full-year profits of $47 million
and $168 million, respectively. Extending a 15-quarter profitability streak,
the fourth-quarter result compares with a $1 million net profit reported for
the year-earlier period.
Passenger revenue
increased 9.3 percent for the year, to about $5 billion, and 14 percent for the
fourth quarter. Other healthy fourth-quarter revenue metrics included 5 percent
and 6 percent increases in passenger unit revenue and yield, respectively. The
average one-way passenger fare in the fourth quarter jumped nearly 9 percent to
almost $169. CFO Mark Powers during a Wednesday conference call also noted that
fourth-quarter ancillary revenue totaled $24 per passenger, up 18 percent year
over year.
According to president
Robin Hayes, the revenue environment in the first quarter of 2014 "is
strong." The carrier expects to increase first-quarter capacity between
2.5 percent and 4.5 percent, and as much as 7 percent for full-year 2014.
But first-quarter
financial performance already has been plagued by airline-unfriendly weather in
the Northeast this month. JetBlue said it canceled about 1,800 flights in early
January, amounting to an estimated $45 million revenue reduction and an approximately
$30 million hit to operating income.