Jetblue to report profit for 4th qtr and year

[lowecur]

Let me ask a question. Is it possible that a lot of that profit is from the sell off of the A320's? I think they lost their shirt, unless it's accounting mumbo jumbo. The 4th Q Income shows a loss of $1M, with a full year loss of $6M. On the Expense side it shows a $4M charge for this Q, and $12M for the year.

Also did Jetblue steal the Airtran playbook? First they followed them into Stewart Newburgh (announced a week later), then into White Plains (announced a month later)? Should we expect them to announce St. Louis and San Diego soon? Is it coincidence? Just wondering. The numbers look great (82% load factor) but if the tickets are at $29-49 that is no surprise.

Jetblue wants to be the LCC 800lb gorilla in the NYC area, and they aren't going to let FL get a foothold.....just as FL wasn't going to let B6 get a foothold in ATL.

FL announced IAD to BOS awhile back and B6 followed with their own announcement a few weeks later. FL never started the route. FL beat them to the punch with ROC to BOS, but I don't think it ever panned out and was dropped.

imp:​

 

[lowecur]

Did he actually say we we're gonna sell 5 more aircraft? http://www.newyorkbusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070130/FREE/70130005/1066/breaking See the 4th paragraph.

My take on the 1st Q: another low ball number. Lower the expectations now and hope to outperform later.

They are basing their projections on bookings, and right now they aren't too good. Things could firm up by mid February, we'll have to see.

11,000 employees and 119 a/c. What ever happened to the 80 employees per a/c they are supposed get to by the end of 2007 to cut expenses? Sounds like they are way behind schedule and will need to fire some employees.

imp:​

 

[Bavarian Chef]

They are basing their projections on bookings, and right now they aren't too good. Things could firm up by mid February, we'll have to see.

11,000 employees and 119 a/c. What ever happened to the 80 employees per a/c they are supposed get to by the end of 2007 to cut expenses? Sounds like they are way behind schedule and will need to fire some employees.

imp:​

Did you listen to the conference call? I didn't but I was told he didn't put a number on the sales, if any. That's probably the best source.

Firings? Nah, just no hiring other than to replace the recently departed.

 

[lowecur]

Did you listen to the conference call? I didn't but I was told he didn't put a number on the sales, if any. That's probably the best source. You may be right as the SEC filing says: *"The total fleet included in the table above may decrease as we consider possible combinations of aircraft sales, assignments, and/or leases." If that's the case, then Crains Business took liberties with the article by posting the future sale of 5 a/c. I think much depends on what happens at LAX.

Firings? Nah, just no hiring other than to replace the recently departed.

You will have between 134 and 139 a/c by year end. To get down to 80 employees you have to basically freeze hiring and let attrition take it's coarse.

imp:​

 

[AAflyer]

You will have between 134 and 139 a/c by year end. To get down to 80 employees you have to basically freeze hiring and let attrition take it's coarse.

imp:​

Yes, the coarse (rough and crude) course of not hiring or letting some go will stink!

AAflyer

 

[Bavarian Chef]

You will have between 134 and 139 a/c by year end. To get down to 80 employees you have to basically freeze hiring and let attrition take it's coarse.

imp:​

They won't fire anyone, they'll "just fix the glitch."

 

[Blue Dude]

11,000 employees and 119 a/c. What ever happened to the 80 employees per a/c they are supposed get to by the end of 2007 to cut expenses? Sounds like they are way behind schedule and will need to fire some employees.

imp:​

Your math is a bit off. There are 11000 total employees, full and part time. The idea is to get below 80 full time equivalent employees per aircraft, not 80 employees per aircraft. The last I heard, they were already about there and were expecting somewhere in the mid 70's be the end of the year.

 

[lowecur]

Yes, the coarse (rough and crude) course of not hiring or letting some go will stink!

AAflyer

Cheeze it, it's the word police.

imp:

 

[lowecur]

Your math is a bit off. There are 11000 total employees, full and part time. The idea is to get below 80 full time equivalent employees per aircraft, not 80 employees per aircraft. The last I heard, they were already about there and were expecting somewhere in the mid 70's be the end of the year.

I bow to you dude, but I'd like to hear it from mgt. Have Dave Neelebarger call me.

imp:​

 

[ERJpusher]

Looks like Q1 2007 isn't looking so good...


NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU.O: Quote, Profile , Research) on Tuesday forecast a loss in the first quarter on rising costs, after higher fares helped the budget carrier post a profit in the fourth quarter.

The seven-year-old airline, seeking to control costs, has reined in growth by delaying deliveries of some aircraft and selling others. It has also raised fares at the expense of filling seats as it seeks to improve earnings. These efforts helped JetBlue return to profit in the fourth quarter. But the results were slightly below Wall Street expectations, and JetBlue's shares fell nearly 3 percent.

The No. 8 U.S. carrier by passenger traffic reported a net profit of $17 million, or 10 cents per share, compared with a loss of $42 million, or 25 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts expected a profit of 11 cents per share on average, according to Reuters Estimates.
Operating revenue jumped 42 percent to $633 million on a 14.5 percent rise in capacity and higher fares. Yield per passenger mile, a reflection of average ticket prices, rose 25 percent in the quarter.

The higher fares dented demand. Load factor -- a measure of the percentage of seats filled by paying passengers -- fell 1.4 points to 79.7 percent.
Despite the improvement last quarter, JetBlue guided toward a loss in the first quarter, forecasting a pretax margin of negative 4 percent to negative 2 percent. It said unit costs were expected to rise 6 percent to 8 percent.
Analysts expected JetBlue to post a profit of 9 cents per share in the first quarter, on average.

But the New York-based carrier expects a profit for the year, forecasting a pretax margin of 5 percent to 7 percent. JetBlue shares, which hit their highest level in more than two years earlier in January, fell 38 cents to $14.12 in morning trading on Nasdaq.
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