(By Balaseshan) JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ:JBLU) reported an increase in preliminary traffic, capacity and load factor for the month of June, due to a rise in passengers and trips flown.
Revenue passenger miles, or traffic, grew 9.7% to 2.90 billion, while capacity measured in terms of available seat miles increased 4.8% to 3.38 billion. Load factor rose 3.8 percentage points to 85.9%.
Revenue passengers carried for the month of June grew 11.1% to 2.489 million. Average stage length for April declined 1.4% to 1,089 from 1,104, while departures increased 6.9% to 22,186.
JetBlue's preliminary completion factor was 98.8% and its on-time performance was 77.4%. Preliminary passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) for the month of June increased 6% year over year.
For the year-to-date of 2012, traffic grew 12.2% to 16.40 billion while capacity increased 8.6% to 19.50 billion. Load factor rose 2.7 percentage points to 84.1%.
Revenue passengers carried for the year-to-date grew 12.1% to 14.19 million. Average stage length for the year-to-date marginally declined 0.4% to 1,079, while departures increased 9.5% to 129,613.
JBLU is trading down 1.31% at $5.66 on Thursday. The stock has been trading between $3.40 and $6.32 for the past 52 weeks.