Virgin America produces its first full-year profit of $10.1 million for 2013

Virgin America (San Francisco) today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2013:

Fourth Quarter 2013 Financial Highlights:

Net Income: $14.2 million in net income, compared to a year ago quarterly loss of $25.0 million, an improvement of $39.1 million.
Operating Revenue: Total operating revenue of $359.9 million, an increase of 2.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012.
Revenue per Available Seat Mile (RASM): RASM increased 4.1 percent, to 11.79 cents. Both increased load factor (up 1.6 points to 78.5 percent) and yield (up 2.4 percent) contributed to the RASM improvement.
Cost per Available Seat Mile (CASM): CASM excluding fuel costs remained the same year-over-year. Total CASM decreased 1.3 percent to 11.02 cents.
Operating Income: $24 million in operating income, increased by $18.4 million year-over-year. Operating margin was 6.6 percent, an increase of 5.1 points from the fourth quarter of 2012.
Capacity: Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 1.3 percent during the fourth quarter. Stage length decreased 8.1 percent, to 1,426 miles.

Full Year 2013 Financial Highlights:

Net Income: 2013 net income of $10.1 million increased $155.5 million, from a loss of $145.4 million in 2012. 2013 was Virgin America’s first full year of profitability.
Operating Revenue: Total operating revenue for 2013 was $1.425 billion, a $92 million increase and 6.9 percent improvement over 2012.
RASM: Total RASM increased 9.3 percent over 2012, to 11.64 cents. Virgin America achieved the highest year-over-year percentage increase in RASM of all major U.S. airlines in 2013.
CASM: Excluding fuel costs, CASM increased 3.3 percent, to 6.83 cents. This modest increase was largely driven by network changes that reduced aircraft utilization by 6.7 percent. Total CASM increased by 0.5 percent to 10.96 cents.
Operating Income: $80.9 million, an increase of $112.6 million from 2012’s operating loss of $31.7 million. 2013 operating margin was 5.7 percent, an increase of 8.1 points over 2012.
Capacity: Network changes led to a 2.2 percent decrease in ASMs for the full year. The average length of a flight (stage length) decreased by 5.9 percent, to 1,474 miles.
2013 Restructuring: The Company completed a debt restructuring in May 2013, eliminating more than $300 million of debt and accrued interest and reducing interest rates on a majority of the remaining debt.
Liquidity: Year-end unrestricted cash balance was $155.7 million. Virgin America generated strong operating cash flow in 2013 of $51 million.

Fleet Plan:

2013 Additions: The airline took delivery of one additional A320 aircraft in the first quarter of 2013, increasing the total operating fleet to 53 Airbus A320-Family aircraft.

Future Deliveries: The airline’s total order with Airbus remains at 40 A320-Family aircraft, with five scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2015, five in the first half of 2016, and 30 scheduled for delivery starting in 2020.

Copyright Photo: Wingnut/AirlinersGallery.com. Taken from a different perspective at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Airbus A320-214 N854VA (msn 5058) taxies to the terminal.

Virgin America: