(By Balaseshan) JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ:JBLU) reported an increase in preliminary traffic, capacity and load factor for the month of July, due to a rise in passengers and trips flown.
Revenue passenger miles, or traffic, grew 7.1% to 3.28 billion, while capacity measured in terms of available seat miles increased 5.5% to 3.76 billion. Load factor rose 1.3 percentage points to 87.2%.
Revenue passengers carried for the month of July grew 8.4% to 2.793 million. Average stage length for April declined 1.5% to 1,100 from 1,117, while departures increased 8.2% to 24,470.
JetBlue's preliminary completion factor was 99.3% and its on-time performance was 75.5%. Preliminary passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) for the month of July increased 3% year over year.
For the month of August, PRASM is expected to increase between 2% and 3% year over year.
For the year-to-date of 2012, traffic grew 11.4% to 19.69 billion while capacity increased 8.1% to 23.26 billion. Load factor rose 2.4 percentage points to 84.6%.
Revenue passengers carried for the year-to-date grew 11.5% to 16.98 million. Average stage length for the year-to-date marginally declined 0.6% to 1,082, while departures increased 9.3% to 154,083.
JBLU is trading down 0.50% at $4.99 on Friday. The stock has been trading between $3.40 and $6.32 for the past 52 weeks.