JetBlue faced a 48.4% increase in fuel
costs during the third quarter, but CEO Robin Hayes said it offset some of that with
higher ancillary revenue and fare increases over recent months.
JetBlue's average fare for the quarter was $175.66, up 2.5%. Passenger revenue increased 10.8% year over year to $1.94 billion.
The airline also is adjusting its network to boost revenue,
moving capacity to focus on three markets: New York's John F. Kennedy
International, Boston and Fort Lauderdale. As it does, it is ending service to
Washington Dulles; Daytona Beach, Fla.; and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It's
also cutting back capacity to Mexico City from both Fort Lauderdale and Orlando
and making its service to Portland, Maine, seasonal instead of year-round.
In the longer term, JetBlue plans to introduce more
segmentation in its fares, including a basic economy-style product sometime
next year. And, JetBlue is looking to partner with "key travel agency
partners" for direct connections based on IATA's New Distribution
Capability standard.
During the third quarter, JetBlue's traffic rose 9.7% as
capacity increased 8.7%, pushing load factor up 0.8 percentage points to 85.9%.
Yield rose 1%.
JetBlue reported net income of $50 million during the
quarter, down from $181 million in the third quarter of 2017. The third quarter
of 2018 included $112 million in costs related to a recently signed contract
with pilots and the carrier's transition away from its E190 fleet.
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Source: Business Travel News