Delaware-based, JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU) reported its preliminary traffic results for September 2010 yesterday. The company’s traffic in the month escalated 14.6% year over year to 2.2 billion compared with 1.9 billion as of September 2009.
Month-ending September 2010, JetBlue Airways’ available seat miles were approximately 2.7 billion, up 10.4% compared with the month of September a year-ago. Load factor was up 3 points to 80.6% versus 77.6% in the corresponding month of 2009.
Revenue passengers increased 15.3% year over year to 1.9 billion compared with 1.6 billion in September 2009, while departures grew by 8.8% to 17.8 million compared with 16.3 million in September 2009. Average stage length grew modestly by 1.7% to 1,101 compared with 1,083 in the month of September 2009.
JetBlue Airways is a passenger airline with the youngest and most fuel-efficient fleet among major U.S. airlines. The company operates primarily on point-to-point routes with its fleet of 110 Airbus A320 aircraft and 41 EMBRAER 190 aircraft. The company provides high-quality customer service featuring all-leather seats and live satellite television in every seatback.
For the second quarter of 2010, JetBlue reported revenue passenger miles increase of 8.9% to 7.1 billion. Capacity went up 5.5%, resulting in a load factor of 82.0%, up 2.5 points year over year.
Equipped with a low cost structure, strong brand name, superior inflight services, a new Sabre system, and a non-union workforce, we believe JetBlue is ideally positioned for growth over the long-term. Also, the company’s efforts to expand its routes in the Caribbean and Latin America are encouraging.
However, fuel price volatility, higher dependence on New York metropolitan market, competitive pressures and automated technology keep us on the sidelines. Further, JetBlue does not pay any dividend to its shareholders.
We currently maintain a Neutral recommendation on the stock.
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