JetBlue Airways March Traffic And Capacity Rise

(RTTNews) - JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) said that its Traffic in March 2018 increased 7.3 percent from March 2017, on a capacity increase of 3.3 percent.

The airline said its March traffic increased 7.3% to 4.38 billion revenue passenger miles or RPMs from 4.08 billion RPMs in the same period last year.

The airline flew 4.92 billion available seat miles or ASMs in March, representing a capacity increase of 3.3% as compared to the prior year period when it flew 4.76 billion ASMs.

Load factor for March 2018 was 89.0 percent, an increase of 3.3 points from March 2017.

JetBlue's preliminary completion factor was 93.6 percent and its on-time performance was 64.2 percent.

Due to a more active winter than normal, JetBlue now expects first quarter capacity to increase approximately 3.3 percent, below the prior guidance range of 3.5% to 5.5%.

First quarter revenue per available seat mile or RASM is expected to increase approximately 6.1 percent year-over-year, above the prior guidance range of 3.5% to 5.5%. RASM growth in the first quarter was better than previously expected as a result of stronger close-in peak demand in March and an approximate half point positive impact from lower completion factor in the final weeks of March.

For the first quarter in total, RASM was positively impacted by approximately one point due to lower completion factor.