US low fares carrier JetBlue delivered its highest quarterly profit since before the pandemic in 2019.
Net income for the three months to June 30 of $138 million compared with a loss of $188 million in the same period last year.
The result came as revenue rose by 6.7% year-on-year to $2.6 billion as capacity rose by 5.8%.
Chief executive Robin Hayes said: “Thanks to the hard work of our fantastic crew members, we generated our highest quarterly profit since 2019, demonstrating the progress we have made since the pandemic.
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“These results were underpinned by record quarterly revenues and strong operational performance, reflecting the benefits from our significant investments and robust preparations for the peak summer travel period.”
Chief operating officer Joanna Geraghty added: “I’m proud of our team for their continued commitment to our customers as we faced a more challenging than expected operating environment driven by severe air traffic control restrictions and exacerbated by weather.
“However, our investments in the operation are making a difference and enabling us to recover more quickly as we manage through unforeseeable disruptions.”
Looking forward, she said: “Overall leisure demand trends are healthy and we continue to see robust demand during peak periods, led by strength in Latin America, visiting-friends-and-relatives and transatlantic travel.
“Looking ahead, we are updating our full-year earnings outlook to reflect near-term headwinds related to the termination of the NEA [US northeast alliance with American Airlines], a challenging operating environment in the northeast and a greater than expected shift of pent-up Covid demand to long-haul international markets which is pressuring demand for domestic travel during the peak summer travel period.
“While we remain on track to deliver a profitable year and record revenue performance, we are taking action, including redeploying capacity to mitigate these current challenges and improve margins.”
Chief financial officer Ursula Hurley said: “While challenges persist in the near term, we are pulling every lever at our disposal to continue to drive cost efficiencies, including better utilisation, technology upgrades, fleet modernisation and our structural cost programme.
“I remain confident in our ability to manage the near-term headwinds and focus on the factors we can control as we rebuild long-term margins and restore our historical earnings power.”
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