Low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways Corp. JBLU witnessed a significant improvement in air traffic this November. Traffic – measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) – came in at 3.4 billion, up 14.2% from 2.98 billion recorded a year ago.
On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) increased 10.7% to 4.05 billion. Moreover, the load factor or percentage of seats filled by passengers increased to 83.9% from 81.4% in Nov 2014.
PRASM (passenger revenue per available seat mile) in the month inched up 2% from Nov 2014. However, JetBlue projects a 2% to 3% annual decline in PRASM for the fourth quarter of 2015.
Following the release of the traffic figures, JetBlue lost nearly 7.9% value during Friday’s trading session to close at $23.43. We believe that the downward movement in the share price was mainly caused by the soft fourth-quarter 2015 PRASM outlook.
For the first eleven months of 2015, JetBlue generated RPMs of 37.9 billion (up 10.2% year over year) and ASMs of 44.7 billion (up 9.5%). Further, the load factor improved 60 basis points year over year to 84.9%.
As per projections by Airlines for America (A4A), 25.3 million passengers were supposed to have travelled via U.S. carriers between Nov 20 and Dec 1. The estimations were based on expectations of massive travel demand in the month of November.
Moreover, constant route expansion across Caribbean and Latin American countries coupled with growing popularity of the company’s Mint service are likely to drive air traffic moving ahead.
JetBlue currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the same space are SkyWest Inc. SKYW, Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. HA and Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL. Both SkyWest and Hawaiian Holdings sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) while Delta Air Lines carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Be the first to comment