Tag Archives: A320232

Spirit Airlines is coming to Phoenix, will drop Mesa

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) today announced that it is starting service from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) to three cities:

Daily nonstop service between Phoenix (PHX) and Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) starts October 24, 2013.
Daily nonstop seasonal service between Phoenix (PHX) and Chicago O’Hare (ORD) starts November 7, 2013.
Daily nonstop seasonal service between Phoenix (PHX) and Denver (DEN) starts November 7, 2013.

Spirit is relocating its operations from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa (AZA) to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. Spirit is reaching out to customers currently holding reservations for flights to and from Gateway Airport. Spirit will discontinue its operations at AZA on October 23, 2013.

Spirit’s Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) — Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) schedule effective October 24, 2013:
	Depart	Arrive	Flight #	Stops	Frequency
Phoenix Sky Harbor — Dallas/Fort Worth	1:00 AM	5:10 AM	772*	0	Daily
Dallas/Fort Worth — Phoenix Sky Harbor	11:15 PM	11:35 PM	771	0	Daily
*Departure and arrival times in Phoenix will be one hour later effective November 3, 2013.

Spirit’s Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) — Chicago (ORD) seasonal schedule effective November 7, 2013 — April 30, 2014:
	Depart	Arrive	Flight #	Stops	Frequency
Phoenix Sky Harbor — Chicago O’Hare	1:50 AM	6:00 AM	168	0	Daily
Chicago O’Hare — Phoenix Sky Harbor	8:50 PM	11:45 PM	167	0	Daily

Spirit’s Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) — Denver (DEN) seasonal schedule effective November 7, 2013 — April 30, 2014:
	Depart	Arrive	Flight #	Stops	Frequency
Phoenix Sky Harbor — Denver	1:15 PM	3:03 PM	816	0	Daily
Denver — Phoenix Sky Harbor	4:00 PM	5:50 PM	815	0	Daily

Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 N605NK (msn 4548) climbs away from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Spirit Airlines:

JetBlue reports second quarter net income of $36 million

JetBlue Airways Corporation (JetBlue Airways) (New York) today reported its results for the second quarter 2013:

Operating income for the quarter was $102 million, resulting in a 7.6% operating margin, compared to operating income of $130 million and a 10.2% operating margin in the second quarter of 2012.
Pre-tax income of $60 million in the second quarter. This compares to pre-tax income of $86 million in the second quarter of 2012.
Net income for the second quarter was $36 million, or $0.11 per diluted share. This compares to JetBlue’s second quarter 2012 net income of $52 million, or $0.16 per diluted share.

“Today, we reported our thirteenth consecutive quarter of profitability,” said Dave Barger, JetBlue’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Although second quarter results were negatively impacted by a sluggish economic environment and continued maintenance cost pressures, our crewmembers remained focused on running a safe, reliable airline and delivering excellent service to our customers. We believe we are well positioned to expand margins in the second half of the year as we expect maintenance cost pressures to lessen and unit revenue performance to improve.”

Operational Performance

JetBlue reported record second quarter operating revenues of $1.3 billion. Revenue passenger miles for the second quarter increased 7.3% to 9.12 billion on a capacity increase of 7.8%, resulting in a second quarter load factor of 84.9%, a decrease of 0.4 points year over year.

Yield per passenger mile in the second quarter was 13.40 cents, down 2.8% compared to the second quarter of 2012. Passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) for the second quarter 2013 decreased 3.3% year over year to 11.37 cents and operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM) decreased 3.1% year over year to 12.42 cents. The calendar shift of the Easter and Passover holidays in March this year compared to April last year negatively impacted second quarter year over year PRASM by approximately two points.

“While we are disappointed to report a decline in year over year unit revenue performance during the quarter, we are encouraged by recent revenue trends and the success of our initiatives to attract and retain high-value customers,” said Robin Hayes, JetBlue’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Operating expenses for the quarter increased 7.5%, or $86 million, over the prior year period. JetBlue’s operating expense per available seat mile (CASM) for the second quarter decreased 0.3% year over year to 11.48 cents. Excluding fuel and profit sharing, CASM increased 3.3% to 7.15 cents.

Fuel Expense and Hedging

JetBlue continued to hedge fuel to manage price volatility. During the second quarter JetBlue hedged approximately 17% of its fuel consumption and managed approximately 21% of its fuel consumption using fixed forward price agreements (FFPs), resulting in a realized fuel price of $3.06 per gallon, a 4.8% decrease over second quarter 2012 realized fuel price of $3.22. JetBlue recorded $4 million in losses on fuel hedges that settled during the second quarter. In addition, JetBlue recorded $2 million in non-cash fuel hedging ineffectiveness losses during the quarter, which is included in non-operating income/expense.

JetBlue has managed approximately 44% of its third quarter projected fuel requirements using a combination of FFPs, collars, swaps and call options. Based on the fuel curve as of July 26th, JetBlue expects an average price per gallon of fuel, including the impact of hedges, FFPs and fuel taxes, of $3.10 in the third quarter.

Balance Sheet Update

JetBlue ended the second quarter with approximately $867 million in unrestricted cash and short term investments. In addition, JetBlue maintains a $200 million line of credit and a revolving credit facility for up to $350 million.

“We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet with healthy liquidity,” said Mark Powers, JetBlue’s Chief Financial Officer. “We expect to continue to use cash from operations to reduce debt, which we believe will help us achieve our return on invested capital goals and generate long-term returns for our shareholders.”

Third Quarter and Full Year Outlook

For the third quarter of 2013, CASM is expected to increase between 1.0% and 3.0% compared to the year-ago period. Excluding fuel and profit sharing, CASM in the third quarter is expected to increase between 3.0% and 5.0% year over year. JetBlue expects roughly half of this year over year increase to be driven by maintenance expense.

CASM for the full year is expected to increase between 0.5% and 2.5% over full year 2012. Excluding fuel and profit sharing, CASM in 2013 is expected to increase between 2.5% and 4.5% year over year.

Capacity is expected to increase between 3.5% and 5.5% in the third quarter and to increase between 5.5% and 7.5% for the full year.

In other news, JetBlue Airways and South African Airways (SAA) today announced a bilateral codeshare agreement to connect the carriers’ networks via New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Washington’s Dulles International Airport (IAD). The agreement is pending U.S. DOT regulatory approval and subject to receipt of foreign government operating authority.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 N605JB (msn 2368) in the special Boston Red Sox color scheme prepares to depart from focus city Long Beach, CA.

JetBlue Airways:

Indigo Partners to divest its shares of Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) has issued this statement about the shares owned by Indigo Partners:

Spirit Airlines, Inc. has announced the public offering of 12,070,920 shares of common stock by certain existing stockholders affiliated with Indigo Partners LLC. Upon completion of the offering, investment funds affiliated with Indigo will no longer own shares of common stock of Spirit Airlines. The company will not receive any proceeds from this offering. Barclays is acting as the sole underwriter for the offering.

The shares of common stock are being offered pursuant to the Company’s existing shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 31, 2012.

In connection with the offering, the Company also announced that William A. Franke and John R. Wilson have informed the Company that upon completion of the offering, they expect to resign as directors at the next board meeting, presently scheduled for August 7, 2013. Upon Mr. Franke’s resignation, the Company’s board intends to elect Mr. H. McIntyre Gardner, a director since 2010, as Chairman of the Board.

Copyright Photo: Tony Storck/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 N617NK (msn 5387) prepares to touch down at Baltimore/Washington.

Spirit Airlines:

Spirit Airlines reports its highest Second Quarter pre-tax margin in its history

Spirit Airlines, Inc. (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) today reported second quarter 2013 financial results.

Adjusted net income for the second quarter 2013 increased 29.6 percent to $45.8 million¹($0.63 per diluted share) compared to $35.3 million¹ ($0.49 per diluted share) for the second quarter 2012. GAAP net income for the second quarter 2013 was $42.1 million ($0.58 per diluted share) compared to $34.6 million ($0.48 per diluted share) in the second quarter 2012.
Spirit achieved an adjusted pre-tax margin of 17.8 percent¹ and a GAAP pre-tax margin of 16.4 percent for the second quarter 2013.
Spirit ended the second quarter 2013 with $525 million in unrestricted cash.
Spirit’s return on invested capital (before taxes and excluding special items) for the last twelve months ended June 30, 2013 was 28.8 percent. See “Calculation for Return on Invested Capital” table below for more details.

Revenue Performance

For the second quarter 2013, Spirit’s total operating revenue was $407.3 million, an increase of 17.6 percent compared to the second quarter 2012.

Total revenue per available seat mile (“RASM”) for the second quarter 2013 was 11.91 cents, a decrease of 2.8 percent compared to the second quarter 2012. The calendar shift of Easter occurring in March this year compared to in April in 2012 negatively impacted second quarter 2013 results.

Passenger flight segment (“PFS”) volume for the second quarter 2013 grew 19.1 percent year over year. Average non-ticket revenue per PFS for the second quarter 2013 increased 3.8 percent year over year to $53.43. The growth in non-ticket revenue per PFS was driven primarily by various changes in late 2012 to the pricing structure for optional services.

Cost Performance

Total operating expenses for the second quarter 2013 increased 17.0 percent year over year to $340.6 million on a capacity increase of 21.0 percent.

During the second quarter 2013, the Company entered into lease extensions covering fourteen of its existing A319 aircraft. In addition to extending the lease termination dates, the Company negotiated reduced lease rates resulting in lower rent expense for the remaining term of the leases as well as other benefits. In the second quarter 2012, the Company incurred one-time start-up costs and other related expenses associated with its seat maintenance program. On a per available seat mile basis, the net effect of these items was offset by higher depreciation and amortization expense related to amortization of heavy maintenance events and maintenance expense related to the growth and aging of our fleet, resulting in a second quarter 2013 cost per available seat mile excluding special items and fuel (“Adjusted CASM ex-fuel”) of 6.00 cents, a decrease of 0.8 percent year over year.

Selected Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Items

As of June 30, 2013, Spirit had $525 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, no restricted cash, no debt on its balance sheet, and total shareholders’ equity of $658 million.

For the six months ended June 30, 2013, Spirit incurred capital expenditures of $13.8 million. The Company paid $19.7 million in pre-delivery deposits for future deliveries of aircraft, net of refunds, and recorded a change of $16.6 million in maintenance deposits, net of reimbursements.

Fleet

In the second quarter 2013, Spirit took delivery of one new A320 aircraft, ending the quarter with 50 aircraft in its fleet. The Company also took delivery of one new A320 in July 2013 and has three more new A320 aircraft scheduled for delivery by year-end 2013.

Spirit Airlines:

South African Airways takes delivery of two new Airbus A320s

South African Airways (SAA) (Johannesburg) has taken delivery of its first two new Airbus A320s out of a total of 20 A320 Family aircraft ordered from Airbus in 2010. The development is set to deliver cost efficiencies and allow SAA to expand its Sub-Sahara regional route network and boost revenue in the rapidly growing market.

The airline’s A320s, powered by IAE-V2500 engines, feature a two class cabin layout, seating 24 passengers in business class and 114 in economy. The A320s will replace its present fleet of 737-800s and will augment the A319s it already has in service and mark the latest phase of SAA’s fleet modernization plan.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. SAA currently already operates 2 Airbus A320s and 13 Boeing 737-800s. Airbus A320-232 ZS-SZZ (msn 4990) arrives at the Johannesburg hub.

South African Airways:

Qatar Airways to fly to Ethiopia

Qatar Airways (Doha) will add a new route from Doha to Addis Ababa starting on September 18. The new route to Ethiopia will be operated three days a week with Airbus A320s. ADD will be 20th destination in Africa for the carrier.

In other news, the airline has added two additional flights between its hub in Doha and Amman, bringing the total number of services to Jordan to nine weekly flights.

Qatar Airways has so far launched six destinations this year – Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Najaf (Iraq), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Chicago O’Hare (USA), Salalah (Oman) and Basra (Iraq).

Qatar Airways:

JetBlue Airways provides an update on its “Fly-Fi” system

JetBlue Airways (New York) has issued this update on its WiFi aircraft upgrade program:

As Summer hits its stride, we wanted to take a moment to give an update on a topic of great interest to our online audience: WiFi onboard!

Earlier this spring we announced some details on our upcoming service we’re calling Fly-Fi and we’re well on our way to bringing this innovative solution to our customers. Bringing faster internet connections than the other guys isn’t without it’s challenges though. If we want to have a better connection, we can’t just use the same technology, so we turned our eyes to the sky… about 22,000 miles up!

As the first U.S. airline to use Ka Band satellite technology to deliver high speed internet to our aircraft, it also falls to us to prove that the technology and equipment used to deliver it is safe, and have the FAA certify that the equipment is ready to be installed in additional aircraft. With safety as our number one value, we don’t take this responsibility lightly.

In June, we took one of our planes out of service and gave it an experimental designation so we could install the necessary equipment. Aside from the electrical work to be done throughout the cabin, there’s the small matter of outfitting the external equipment as well. It’s no small feat to install rotating, pivoting blades that constantly track the orbiting ViaSat-1!

After several ‘proving flights’ to test the air-worthiness of the added equipment and new radome (the bubble on top of our planes containing antennae), we were able take another flight to test the Fly-Fi system and any impact the signals may have on other aircraft systems or equipment. The tests were VERY thorough, we even tested the lavatory lights!

The most exciting tests were of the system itself though, and the team reporting back was thrilled with the results and download speeds they were seeing. Needless to say, our excitement is high and we itching to start rolling it out, but there are a couple final steps to go.

One of a flurry of photos sent from the experimental aircraft using Fly-Fi

With testing done, the experimental aircraft must now sit and wait for the FAA to review the documentation and data collected to issue a Supplemental Type Certificate that will allow us to return the plane to service, and begin the process of installing Fly-Fi on our fleet. We expect that process to take a bit of time, but once complete, we get to take to the air once again for final preparations. Once the plane is completely vetted, it’ll return to service, and we’ll be able to begin rolling out Fly-Fi to the rest of the fleet.

Top Copyright Photo: James Helbock/AirlinersGallery.com (all others by JetBlue). JetBlue Airways is also adding new Sharklets tail devices in-house to its fleet. The first, the pictured A320-232 N821JB (msn 5417) “Blue Yorker” was unveiled at New York (JFK) on February 22, 2013.

JetBlue Airways:

EasyJet to add five new routes in the winter schedule

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has today added a further five routes to its flight schedule making 190,000 more seats available for its passengers.

The new routes will take off from October 17, 2013.

The schedule additions include a new route to the Romanian capital of Bucharest, Larnaca in Cyprus, Venice, Lyon and Tenerife. The routes will fly from across easyJet’s UK bases including London Gatwick, London Luton, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. This former GB Airways Airbus A320-232 registered as G-TTOH (msn 1993) and pictured at Palma de Mallorca was incorporated into the easyJet fleet for only a short period before it was returned and later migrated to AviaNova (EI-ELN) and Yamal Airlines (VP-BCN).

EasyJet (UK):

JetBlue today launches nonstop Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood-San Jose, Costa Rica flights

JetBlue Airways (New York) today launched daily nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO).

Destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean now make up almost one-third of JetBlue’s route network. In addition to the new Fort Lauderdale to San Jose route, JetBlue started service between Orlando and San Jose in 2009, and also offers nonstop service to Liberia from New York’s JFK Airport.

JetBlue’s schedule between Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood and San Jose, Costa Rica:

Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to San Jose (SJO):	San Jose (SJO) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL):
Depart – Arrive	Depart – Arrive
9:45 a.m. – 10:38 a.m.	1:20 p.m. – 6:24 p.m.
– All times local –

JetBlue serves 27 Latin American and Caribbean destinations, including: Aruba; The Bahamas (Nassau); Barbados; Bermuda; Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman); Colombia (Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena); Costa Rica (Liberia and San Jose); Dominican Republic (La Romana, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Samana, Santiago and Santo Domingo); Jamaica (Kingston and Montego Bay); Mexico (Cancun); Puerto Rico (Aguadilla, Ponce and San Juan); St. Croix; Saint Lucia; St. Maarten; St. Thomas; and, Turks and Caicos (Providenciales).

JetBlue’s flights to San Jose will be operated with its 150-seat Airbus A320s.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 N534JB (msn 1705) in the Blueberries tail design departs from FLL.

JetBlue Airways:

JetBlue’s pilots to use Electronic Flight Bags (iPads) in the cockpit

JetBlue Airways (New York) has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to give all pilots custom-equipped iPads that will add more real-time capabilities in the cockpit and save fuel by eliminating the heavy paper manuals that all pilots carry.

Following a successful trial phase with approximately 60 pilots over several months, JetBlue already has begun giving all 2,500 pilots a fourth-generation 16 GB Wi-Fi capable Apple iPad. While JetBlue has been approved for a decade to use a PC-based laptop in the cockpit – called an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) – the iPads will offer new capabilities and conveniences, especially as JetBlue implements Ka-Band satellite Wi-Fi.

“We are one step closer to a paperless cockpit,” said Jeff Martin, senior vice president of operations for JetBlue. “The iPads will have real-time weather capability and the ability to update safety and flight documents securely,” Martin said. “We expect to add digital chart capability, once it is approved.” With JetBlue’s coming Ka-band satellite capability enabled by LiveTV, pilots will be able to download weather imagery in seconds, while the same download might take several minutes with other systems.

“Our pilots will have the fastest real-time images in the air,” Martin said. JetBlue’s pilots will use WSI Optima application for weather briefings, the Comply365 app for digital documents and the AeroData DFP app for aircraft performance and weight and balance calculations. The Comply365 solution will be used throughout JetBlue. JetBlue is currently evaluating digital charting providers for implementation at a later date.

“Pilots will be able to make decisions to help improve the customer experience, such as having a more robust weather briefing that can be used to update customers during the flight about what to expect en route,” Martin said. JetBlue will implement iPad use during the next three months to ensure a safe transition.

Top Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 N598JB (msn 2314) with the Plaid tailfin departs runway 27R at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Jet Blue Airways: