Virgin America (San Francisco) reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2014 with an operating income of $52.3 million and net income of $41.6 million. The airline posted an operating margin of 12.9 percent – a 1.4 point improvement over the third quarter of 2013, driven largely by a 5.5 percent growth in revenue per available seat mile (RASM) over the prior year period.

Third Quarter 2014 Financial Highlights:

Operating Revenue: Total operating revenue of $405.5 million, an increase of 4.7 percent over the third quarter of 2013.

Revenue per Available Seat Mile (RASM): RASM increased 5.5 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013, to 12.60 cents. Year-over-year RASM growth was driven by a 0.6 percent increase in yield and a 3.0 point increase in load factor. The RASM performance continues the trend of strong RASM growth for the airline, which reported 9 percent RASM growth year-over-year for its Full Year 2013 results.

Cost per Available Seat Mile (CASM): Total CASM increased 3.8 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013, to 10.98 cents. CASM excluding fuel costs for the quarter increased 5.5 percent year-over-year, to 6.84 cents, primarily due to a provision for teammate profit sharing. CASM, excluding both fuel and profit-sharing costs, increased 2.0 percent, to 6.61 cents.

Operating Income: Third quarter of 2014 operating income increased by 17.9 percent over the third quarter of 2013 to $52.3 million with an operating margin improvement of 1.4 points year-over-year.

Net Income: Net income for the quarter increased 24.2 percent year-over-year, from $33.5 million to $41.6 million. Virgin America’s year-to-date net income improved by $60.2 million from a net loss of $4.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2013, to net income of $56.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2014.

Capacity: Available seat miles (ASMs) for the third quarter of 2014 decreased 0.8 percent year-over-year. The airline ended the quarter with 53 Airbus A320-family aircraft.

Liquidity: Unrestricted cash was $184.5 million as of September 30, 2014.

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Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 N849VA (msn 4991) with the special champion “Giants-Fly Together” logo arrives in Washington.

Virgin America: