(By Balachander) JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) reported an increase in traffic and capacity for the month of December, while load factor declined.
The New York-based airliner said revenue passenger miles (RPMs) - a measure of traffic - rose 6.1 percent to about 2.87 billion from the year-ago period. Available seat miles (ASMs) - a measure of capacity - also increased 6.1 percent to around 3.58 billion.
Load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, fell 0.1 points to 80.1 percent last month from 80.2 percent a year earlier.
JetBlue said its preliminary completion factor was 99.6 percent and its on-time performance was 70.2 percent.
The airline's preliminary passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) increased 2 percent last month.
For the year-to-date period, RPMs jumped 9.3 percent and ASMs rose 7.6 percent. Load factor added 1.4 points to 83.8 percent.
JBLU shares, which have been trading in the range of $4.06 to $6.32 for the past 52 weeks, gained 0.52 percent to trade at $5.84 on Friday.