JetBlue Airways Corp. said Tuesday its second-quarter profit grew modestly, as revenue jumped 42 percent but expenses surged at the same time due to rising fuel costs.
Still, the company's shares tumbled 46 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $11.78 in early trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The carrier said earnings edged higher to $14 million (euro11.08 million) from $13 million (euro10.29 million), while per-share results were flat at 8 cents.
Revenue jumped 42 percent to $612 million (euro484.33 million) from $429 million (euro339.51 million) a year ago.
The results topped Wall Street expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of 4 cents per share and sales of $601.7 million (euro476.18 million).
Operating expenses increased 45 percent to $565 million (euro447.14 million), squeezing margins. Operating margin shrunk to about 8 percent from 9 percent a year ago, the company said.
The company's average fuel cost was 37 percent higher in the second quarter: $2.06 a gallon versus $1.50 a year ago.
Traffic climbed 15.6 percent to 5.9 billion revenue passenger miles (kilometers). Each revenue passenger 1 mile (1.6 kilometer) is equal to one paying passenger flown one mile (1.6 kilometer). Capacity expanded 23.2 percent to 7.2 billion available seat miles (kilometers). Load factor, or occupancy, declined 5.5 points to 82.2 percent at the same time.
In the third quarter, Jetblue expects capacity to rise between 19 percent and 21 percent. Capacity is forecast to grow 20 percent to 22 percent for the year.
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