JetBlue yesterday reported its financial and operating results for the third quarter of 2022.
The company stated that revenue was ahead of initial expectations, as strong demand for leisure and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel remained stable during the quarter.
On the other hand, the company remarked that hurricanes Fiona and Ian, which particularly affected operations in the Caribbean and southeastern United States in late September, had a net neutral impact on unit revenues for the full reporting period, as revenue was offset by reduced capacity.
«For the third quarter, we reached an important milestone in our recovery as we generated our first quarterly adjusted profit since the start of the pandemic», noted Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue. «Looking ahead, we expect our profitability to carry through to another solid quarter of mid-single-digit pre-tax margins in the fourth quarter, and we will look to expand on that further in 2023 as we continue to restore our earnings power», he continued.
In addition, the company’s top executive remarked that they continue to «see a growing appetite for JetBlue’s unique customer value proposition of low fares and great service». «With ample runway for growth ahead of us, we remain focused on execution and value creation for all our stakeholders», he concluded.
JetBlue third quarter 2022 key financial and operating results
- Total profit before tax reached 118 million dollars between July and September. In the same period of 2019, JetBlue had reported a profit of 239 million dollars.
- Adjusted diluted earnings per share was 0.21 dollars. In the third quarter of 2019, that profit had been 0.59 dollars per share.
- The company’s total capacity increased by 0.5% over third quarter 2021.
- Revenue per available seat mile increased 23.4% year-on-year, a figure close to the company’s estimate, which had forecast an increase of between 22% and 24%.
- Operating expenses per available seat mile increased 32.4% from third quarter 2021. Excluding fuel and special items, the year-on-year increase was 16.3%. The airline had estimated the increase to be between 15% and 17%.
- The average fuel price during the quarter reached 3.84 dollars per gallon, up 86% from the price reported in the same period of 2019 (2.06 dollars). JetBlue forecasts an average price per gallon of 3.65 dollars in the last quarter of this year.
- As of 30 September 2022, JetBlue’s adjusted debt to capital ratio was 53%.
- The company ended the third quarter of the year with approximately 2.3 billion dollars in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and long-term marketable securities. This is equivalent to 28% of 2019 revenues.
Third quarter balances and projections for the last three months of the year
«For the fourth quarter we expect capacity to be up 1% to 4% year over three, a modest sequential step-up versus the third quarter», said Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s President and COO. We expect unit revenue to increase between 15% and 19% year over three».
«I am pleased with the team’s execution in delivering our first quarter of profitability since the pandemic, an important milestone for us», said Ursula Hurley, the company’s CFO. «We exceeded our original revenue guidance, maintained controllable costs in-line with our initial outlook despite the impact from hurricanes, resulting in a solid pre-tax margin result», she added.
«For the fourth quarter, we are forecasting cost per available seat and mile, excluding fuel expense, to increase between 8.5% and 10.5% year over three», Hurley said. «This represents a sequential improvement of approximately seven points, driven by efficiencies as we scale capacity up as well as early progress on our recently announced structural cost programme» she concluded.
See also: American Airlines reports record quarterly revenues
