January 29, 2008

JetBlue reports 4Q loss, annual profit

NEW YORK - JetBlue Airways Corp. reported a narrower than expected loss in the fourth quarter and its first full-year profit in three years as an increase in traffic helped the discount airline compensate for skyrocketing fuel costs.

JetBlue, based in Forest Hills, N.Y., said Tuesday it lost $4 million, or 2 cents a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31 in contrast to a profit of $17 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose 16.6 percent to $739 million from $633 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a loss of 5 cents a share on revenue of $731 million. The analysts' earnings estimates typically exclude one-time items.

For the full year, JetBlue earned $18 million, or 10 cents a share, versus a loss of $1 million, break-even on a per-share basis, in 2006. Revenue jumped 20.2 percent to $2.84 billion from $2.36 billion in 2006.

Analysts had expected a 2007 profit of 7 cents a share on revenue of $2.8 billion.

JetBlue's fourth quarter traffic increased by 7.1 percent to 6.2 billion revenue passenger miles — a measure of one paying passenger flown one mile — on an 11.5 percent increase in capacity. Occupancy fell 3.1 percentage points to 76.6 percent.

Revenue per available seat mile, a measure of unit revenue, rose 2.5 percent in the quarter to 8.34 cents from the fourth quarter of 2006. However, unit costs rose 11.7 percent in the quarter to 8.73 cents, mostly due to higher fuel costs.

For the full year, unit revenue rose 6.3 percent, while unit costs rose 7.1 percent.

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