JetBlue Announces Second Quarter Results
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NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 07/28/15 -- JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) today reported its results for the second quarter 2015:
- Operating income of $282 million in the second quarter. This compares to operating income of $141 million in the second quarter of 2014.
- Pre-tax income of $250 million in the second quarter. This compares to pre-tax income excluding special items1 of $103 million in the second quarter of 2014. On a GAAP basis, pre-tax income was $345 million in the second quarter of 2014, which included the gain on sale of JetBlue's wholly-owned subsidiary LiveTV.
- Net income of $152 million, or $0.44 per diluted share. This compares to JetBlue's second quarter 2014 net income excluding special items1 of $61 million, or $0.19 per diluted share. On a GAAP basis, JetBlue's second quarter 2014 net income was $230 million, or $0.68 per diluted share.
Financial Performance
JetBlue reported record second quarter operating revenues of $1.6 billion. Revenue passenger miles for the second quarter increased 8.7% to 10.5 billion on a capacity increase of 7.5%, resulting in a second quarter load factor of 85.6%, an increase of 1.0 points year over year.
Yield per passenger mile in the second quarter was 14.28 cents, up 0.2% compared to the second quarter of 2014. Passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) for the second quarter 2015 increased 1.4% year over year to 12.22 cents and operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM) increased 0.4% year over year to 13.17 cents.
Operating expenses for the quarter decreased 1.7%, or $22 million, over the prior year period. Interest expense for the quarter declined 15.8%, or $7 million, as JetBlue continues to reduce its debt. JetBlue's operating expense per available seat mile (CASM) for the second quarter decreased 8.6% year over year to 10.86 cents. Excluding fuel and profit sharing, second quarter CASM2 increased 0.6% to 7.56 cents.
Operational Performance
System on time departures, or D0, improved 1.7 points year-over-year in the second quarter. System arrival performance, or A14, also improved 3.3 points.
"We are very pleased to report strong second quarter results based on solid demand across our network, safe and efficient operations, and good cost control. I would like to thank our 17,000 crewmembers who continue to inspire humanity on a daily basis." said Robin Hayes, JetBlue's President and CEO.
Fuel Expense and Hedging
In the second quarter JetBlue had hedges in place for approximately 19% of its fuel consumption. This resulted in a realized fuel price of $2.13 per gallon, a 31% decrease versus second quarter 2014 realized fuel price of $3.09. JetBlue recorded $30 million in losses on fuel hedges settling during the second quarter.
JetBlue has hedged approximately 14% of its third quarter 2015 projected fuel requirements using a combination of jet fuel swaps and collars. Based on the fuel curve as of July 17th, JetBlue expects an average price per gallon of fuel, including the impact of hedges and fuel taxes, of $1.95 in the third quarter. For the fourth quarter, JetBlue has hedged approximately 15% of projected fuel consumption.
Liquidity and Cash Flow
JetBlue ended the quarter with $915 million in unrestricted cash and short term investments, or about 15% of trailing twelve month revenue. In addition, JetBlue maintains approximately $600 million in undrawn lines of credit.
During the second quarter, JetBlue repaid $39 million in regularly scheduled debt and capital lease obligations and prepaid $84 million in additional debt. JetBlue anticipates paying approximately $145 million in regularly scheduled debt and capital lease obligations during the remainder of 2015 and plans to continue to opportunistically prepay other debt. JetBlue expects to pay approximately $54 million in regularly scheduled debt and capital lease obligations in the third quarter of 2015.
In addition, on June 16 JetBlue entered into an Accelerated Share Repurchase program. JetBlue paid $150 million and received 6.1 million shares at the start of the program, with a subsequent adjustment upon close of the transaction. Ultimately, the total shares purchased by JetBlue will be based on the volume weighted average prices of JetBlue's common stock during the term of the program.
"We posted another good quarter and continue to make progress strengthening our balance sheet." said Mark Powers, JetBlue's Chief Financial Officer. "Looking forward, the execution of the initiatives described at Investor Day last November will increase free cash flow and improve our return on invested capital."
Third Quarter and Full Year Outlook
CASM excluding fuel and profit sharing is expected to increase between 1.0% and 3.0% in the third quarter 2015 and between zero and 1.5% percent for the full year. This represents a 0.5% reduction to the top end of our CASM excluding fuel and profit sharing guidance range.
Capacity is expected to increase between 8.5% and 10.5% in the third quarter 2015 and between 7.0% and 9.0% for the full year, consistent with prior guidance. At present, we anticipate ending the year at the higher end of our annual capacity guidance.
JetBlue will conduct a conference call to discuss its quarterly earnings today, July 28, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. A live broadcast of the conference call will be available via the internet at http://investor.jetblue.com.
About JetBlue
JetBlue is New York's Hometown Airline™, and a leading carrier in Boston, Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood, Los Angeles (Long Beach), Orlando, and San Juan. JetBlue carries more than 32 million customers a year to 90 cities in the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America with an average of 875 daily flights. For more information please visit JetBlue.com.
Notes
(1) Pre-tax and net income excluding special items are non-GAAP financial measures that we use to measure our core performance. Note A provides a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release and provides the reasons management uses those measures.
(2) Consolidated operating cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel and profit sharing (CASM Ex-Fuel and Profit Sharing) is a non-GAAP financial measure that we use to measure our core performance. Note A provides a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release and provides the reasons management uses those measures.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature which represent our management's beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. When used in this document, the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "indicates," "believes," "forecast," "guidance," "outlook," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "targets" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and are based on information currently available to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to many factors, including, without limitation, our extremely competitive industry; volatility in financial and credit markets which could affect our ability to obtain debt and/or lease financing or to raise funds through debt or equity issuances; volatility in fuel prices, maintenance costs and interest rates; our ability to implement our growth strategy; our significant fixed obligations and substantial indebtedness; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel and maintain our culture as we grow; our reliance on high daily aircraft utilization; our dependence on the New York metropolitan market and the effect of increased congestion in this market; our reliance on automated systems and technology; our being subject to potential unionization, work stoppages, slowdowns or increased labor costs; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers; our presence in some international emerging markets that may experience political or economic instability or may subject us to legal risk; reputational and business risk from information security breaches; changes in or additional government regulation; changes in our industry due to other airlines' financial condition; global economic conditions, or an economic downturn leading to a continuing or accelerated decrease in demand for domestic and business air travel; the spread of infectious diseases; and external geopolitical events and conditions. Further information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the Company's 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(in millions, except share and per share amounts)
(unaudited)
Three Months
Ended Six Months Ended
June 30, Percent June 30, Percent
----------------- -----------------
2015 2014 Change 2015 2014 Change
-------- -------- ------- -------- -------- -------
OPERATING REVENUES
Passenger $ 1,496 $ 1,372 9.0 $ 2,904 $ 2,602 11.6
Other 116 121 (4.6) 231 240 (3.8)
-------- -------- -------- --------
Total operating
revenues 1,612 1,493 7.9 3,135 2,842 10.3
OPERATING EXPENSES
Aircraft fuel and
related taxes 371 497 (25.3) 706 961 (26.5)
Salaries, wages
and benefits 375 316 18.7 750 645 16.3
Landing fees and
other rents 90 83 7.0 173 160 8.1
Depreciation and
amortization 81 77 5.5 168 155 9.0
Aircraft rent 31 31 (0.7) 62 62 (1.3)
Sales and
marketing 70 69 1.6 130 123 6.2
Maintenance
materials and
repairs 126 102 23.0 239 196 22.0
Other operating
expenses 186 177 4.9 372 358 3.4
-------- -------- -------- --------
Total operating
expenses 1,330 1,352 (1.7) 2,600 2,660 (2.3)
-------- -------- -------- --------
OPERATING INCOME 282 141 535 182
Operating margin 17.5% 9.4% 8.1 pts. 17.1% 6.4% 10.7
OTHER INCOME
(EXPENSE)
Interest expense (32) (39) (15.8) (66) (76) (12.4)
Capitalized
interest 2 4 (40.6) 4 7 (33.7)
Interest income
and other (2) (3) (33.1) (1) (3) (50.0)
Gain on sale of
subsidiary - 242 100.0 - 241 100.0
-------- -------- -------- --------
Total other
income
(expense) (32) 204 (115.7) (63) 169 (137.2)
INCOME BEFORE INCOME
TAXES 250 345 472 351
Pre-tax margin 15.5% 23.1% (7.6)pts. 15.1% 12.4% 2.7
Income tax expense 98 115 183 117
-------- -------- -------- --------
NET INCOME $ 152 $ 230 $ 289 $ 234
======== ======== ======== ========
EARNINGS PER COMMON
SHARE:
Basic $ 0.48 $ 0.79 $ 0.92 $ 0.80
======== ======== ======== ========
Diluted $ 0.44 $ 0.68 $ 0.84 $ 0.69
======== ======== ======== ========
Weighted average
shares
outstanding
(thousands):
Basic 316,945 293,511 313,571 294,165
Diluted 347,681 343,866 346,967 344,710
JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORPORATION
COMPARATIVE OPERATING STATISTICS
(unaudited)
Three Months
Ended Six Months Ended
June 30, Percent June 30, Percent
----------------- -----------------
2015 2014 Change 2015 2014 Change
-------- -------- ------- -------- -------- -------
Revenue
passengers
(thousands) 8,858 8,179 8.3 16,953 15,512 9.3
Revenue
passenger miles
(millions) 10,472 9,632 8.7 20,093 18,294 9.8
Available seat
miles (ASMs)
(millions) 12,237 11,386 7.5 23,656 21,805 8.5
Load factor 85.6% 84.6% 1.0 pts. 84.9% 83.9% 1.0 pts.
Aircraft
utilization
(hours per day) 12.0 12.0 0.1 11.8 11.8 0.7
Average fare $ 168.85 $ 167.80 0.6 $ 171.29 $ 167.75 2.1
Yield per
passenger mile
(cents) 14.28 14.25 0.2 14.45 14.22 1.6
Passenger
revenue per ASM
(cents) 12.22 12.05 1.4 12.28 11.93 2.9
Operating
revenue per ASM
(cents) 13.17 13.12 0.4 13.25 13.04 1.7
Operating
expense per ASM
(cents) 10.86 11.88 (8.6) 10.99 12.20 (9.9)
Operating
expense per
ASM, excluding
fuel (cents) 7.83 7.51 4.2 8.00 7.79 2.7
Operating
expense per
ASM, excluding
fuel and profit
sharing (cents)
(a) 7.56 7.51 0.6 7.75 7.79 (0.6)
Airline
operating
expense per ASM
(cents) (b) 10.86 11.73 (7.4) 10.99 12.03 (8.7)
Departures 79,558 74,917 6.2 153,381 143,069 7.2
Average stage
length (miles) 1,085 1,088 (0.3) 1,091 1,091 (0.0)
Average number
of operating
aircraft during
period 206.0 193.9 6.3 205.0 193.4 6.0
Average fuel
cost per
gallon,
including fuel
taxes $ 2.13 $ 3.09 (30.9) $ 2.10 $ 3.11 (32.6)
Fuel gallons
consumed
(millions) 174 161 8.1 337 309 9.0
Full-time
equivalent
employees at
period end (b) 14,223 13,162 8.1
(a) Refer to our "Regulation G Reconciliation" note at the end of our
Earnings Release for more information on this non-GAAP measure.
(b) Excludes operating expenses and employees of LiveTV, LLC, which are
unrelated to our airline operations and no longer part of JetBlue as at
June 30, 2014.
SELECTED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET DATA
(in millions)
June 30, December 31,
2015 2014
--------------- ---------------
(unaudited)
Cash and cash equivalents $ 422 $ 341
Total investment securities 549 427
Total assets 8,317 7,839
Total debt 2,032 2,233
Stockholders' equity 2,793 2,529
SOURCE: JetBlue Airways Corporation
Note A - Non-GAAP Financial Measures
JetBlue sometimes uses non-GAAP measures that are derived from the Consolidated Financial Statements, but that are not presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). JetBlue believes these metrics provide a meaningful comparison of our results to others in the airline industry and our prior year results. Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, non-GAAP financial measures may be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results. The tables below show reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures used in this press release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. It should be noted as well that our non-GAAP information may be different from the non-GAAP information provided by other companies.
Net Income and Pre-Tax Income, excluding special items. JetBlue excludes special items from net income and pre-tax income because management believes the exclusion of these items is helpful to investors to evaluate the company's recurring core operational performance in the periods shown. Therefore, we adjust for these amounts. Special items excluded in the tables below showing reconciliation of net income and pre-tax income include the gain on the sale of JetBlue's wholly-owned subsidiary LiveTV, LLC due to the non-recurring nature of this item.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE (a)
RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME, INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES AND EPS EXCLUDING
SPECIAL ITEMS
(in millions, except per share amounts)
(unaudited)
Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
June 30, June 30,
------------------- -------------------
2015 2014 2015 2014
--------- --------- --------- ---------
$ $ $ $
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Income before income taxes $ 250 $ 345 $ 472 $ 351
Less: Gain on sale of subsidiary - 242 - 241
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Income before income taxes excluding
special items 250 103 472 110
Less: Income tax expense 98 115 183 117
Add back: Income tax relating to
gain on sale of subsidiary (b) - 73 - 73
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Net Income excluding special items $ 152 $ 61 $ 289 $ 66
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Earnings per common share excluding
special items:
Basic $ 0.48 $ 0.21 $ 0.92 $ 0.23
========= ========= ========= =========
Diluted $ 0.44 $ 0.19 $ 0.84 $ 0.21
========= ========= ========= =========
(a) Refer to our "Regulation G Reconciliation" note at the end of our
Earnings Release for more information on this non-GAAP measure.
(b) The capital gain generated from the sale of LiveTV allowed JetBlue to
utilize a capital loss carryforward which resulted in the release of a
valuation allowance related to the capital loss deferred tax asset of $19
million
Consolidated operating cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel and profit sharing ("CASM Ex-Fuel and Profit Sharing"). CASM is a common metric used in the airline industry. We exclude aircraft fuel and related taxes and profit sharing from operating cost per available seat mile to determine CASM Ex-Fuel and Profit Sharing. We believe CASM Ex-Fuel and Profit Sharing provides investors the ability to measure financial performance excluding items beyond our control such as (i) fuel costs, which are subject to many economic and political factors beyond our control and (ii) profit sharing, which is sensitive to volatility in earnings. We believe this measure is more indicative of our ability to manage costs and is more comparable to measures reported by other major airlines.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE (a)
RECONCILIATION OF OPERATING EXPENSE PER ASM, EXCLUDING FUEL AND PROFIT
SHARING
(dollars in millions, per ASM data in cents)
(unaudited)
Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
June 30, June 30,
----------------------------- -----------------------------
2015 2014 2015 2014
-------------- -------------- -------------- --------------
$ per ASM $ per ASM $ per ASM $ per ASM
------ ------- ------ ------- ------ ------- ------ -------
Total operating
expenses $1,330 10.86 $1,352 11.88 $2,600 10.99 $2,660 12.20
Less: Aircraft
fuel and
related taxes 371 3.03 497 4.37 706 2.99 961 4.41
------ ------- ------ ------- ------ ------- ------ -------
Operating
expenses,
excluding fuel 959 7.83 855 7.51 1,894 8.00 1,699 7.79
Less: Profit
sharing 33 0.27 - - 60 0.25 - -
------ ------- ------ ------- ------ ------- ------ -------
Operating
expense,
excluding fuel
and profit
sharing $ 926 7.56 $ 855 7.51 $1,834 7.75 $1,699 7.79
------ ------- ------ ------- ------ ------- ------ -------
(a) Refer to our "Regulation G Reconciliation" note at the end of our
Earnings Release for more information on this non-GAAP measure.
CONTACTS JetBlue Investor Relations Tel: +1 718 709 [email protected] Corporate Communications Tel: +1 718 709 [email protected]
Source: JetBlue
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