JetBlue Airways Reports December Traffic and Announces 2008 Capacity Plans
NEW YORK, Jan. 7, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — JetBlue Airways Corporation (Nasdaq:JBLU) reported today that its traffic in December increased 6.4 percent from December 2006, on a capacity increase of 10.0 percent.
Load factor for December 2007 was 76.8 percent, a decrease of 2.6 points from December 2006. JetBlue’s preliminary completion factor was 97.5 percent and its on-time (1) performance was 65.5 percent. JetBlue’s preliminary passenger revenue per available seat mile for the month of December increased five percent year over year.
“We experienced strong demand during the holiday season,” said Dave Barger, JetBlue’s CEO. “However, given an uncertain economic environment and record high fuel prices, we plan to grow more conservatively in 2008. Assuming market conditions remain favorable, we expect to take advantage of continued strength in the worldwide aircraft market to manage our fleet growth, and we currently plan to increase capacity between six and nine percent for the full year.”
JETBLUE AIRWAYS TRAFFIC RESULTS December 2007 December 2006 % Change Revenue passenger miles (000) 2,161,786 2,031,593 6.4 Available seat miles (000) 2,814,913 2,558,049 10.0 Load factor 76.8% 79.4% (2.6) pts. Revenue passengers 1,814,093 1,742,574 4.1 Departures 17,519 15,857 10.5 Average stage length 1,128 1,079 4.5 Y-T-D 2007 Y-T-D 2006 % Change Revenue passenger miles (000) 25,737,027 23,319,821 10.4 Available seat miles (000) 31,904,286 28,593,960 11.6 Load factor 80.7% 81.6% (0.9) pts. Revenue passengers 21,386,573 18,564,563 15.2 Departures 196,594 159,152 23.5 Average stage length 1,129 1,186 (4.8) SOURCE: JetBlue Airways Corporation
(1) The U.S. Department of Transportation considers on-time arrivals to be those domestic flights arriving within 14 minutes of schedule.
New York-based JetBlue Airways has created a new airline category based on value, service and style. Known for its award-winning service and free TV as much as its low fares, JetBlue is now pleased to offer customers the most legroom throughout coach (based on average fleet-wide seat pitch for U.S. airlines). JetBlue introduced complimentary in-flight e-mail and instant messaging services on aircraft “BetaBlue,” a first among U.S. domestic airlines. JetBlue is also America’s first and only airline to offer its own Customer Bill of Rights, with meaningful and specific compensation for customers inconvenienced by service disruptions within JetBlue’s control. Visit www.jetblue.com/promise for details. JetBlue serves 51 cities with up to 550 daily flights. New service to St. Maarten and Puerto Plata begins in January. With JetBlue, all seats are assigned, all travel is ticketless, all fares are one-way, and an overnight stay is never required. For information or reservations call 1-800-JETBLUE (1-800-538-2583) or visit www.jetblue.com.
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This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature which represent our management’s beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and are based on information currently available to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to many factors, including, without limitation, our extremely competitive industry; increases in fuel prices, maintenance costs and interest rates; our ability to implement our growth strategy, including the ability to operate reliably the EMBRAER 190 aircraft; our significant fixed obligations; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel and maintain our culture as we grow; our reliance on high daily aircraft utilization; our dependence on the New York metropolitan market and the effect of increased congestion in this market; our reliance on automated systems and technology; our being subject to potential unionization; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers; changes in or additional government regulation; changes in our industry due to other airlines’ financial condition; and external geopolitical events and conditions. Further information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the Company’s 2006 Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
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CONTACT: JetBlue Airways Corporation Investor Relations (718) 709-2202 ir@jetblue.com Corporate Communications (718) 709-3089 CorporateCommunications@jetblue.com