JetBlue Profit Rises as Passenger Traffic Increases

JetBlue Airways Corp. said its third-quarter profit edged higher as passenger traffic increased and fuel costs remained low.

But the primarily domestic low-fare carrier also said it expects a measure of costs to rise in the fourth quarter between 4.5% and 6.5%, including a negative impact from Hurricane Matthew.

Shares declined 1.6% premarket.

The New York-Based carrier reported that passenger traffic increased 7.6%, while capacity grew 6.3% and the percentage seats filled—or load factor—grew to 86.3%, a 1 point increase from last year. However, passenger unit revenue—a measure of sales per seat flown a mile—fell roughly 5.9% to 13.20 cents.

Like its larger rivals, JetBlue has seen its revenue pressured by weak fares, while profit has benefited from low fuel costs. For the quarter ending in September, the realized fuel price was $1.48 a gallon, 20% below the price for the prior year. However, the airline said it expects fuel prices to rise to $1.63 in the current quarter.

Over all for the third quarter. JetBlue reported a profit of $199 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with $198 million, or 58 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 10% to $1.73 billion.

Analysts had forecast earnings of 60 cents on $1.73 billion in revenue.

Write to Imani Moise at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2016 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

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