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JetBlue Posts Robust May Traffic Data, Revises Q2 RASM View

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JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU - Free Report) posted an impressive rise in air traffic for May. Traffic measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs), increased 8.9% year over year to 4.34 billion. Consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) also expanded 7.6% to 5.06 billion on a year-over-year basis.

Load factor or percentage of seats filled by passengers improved 110 basis points (bps) to 85.8% in the month as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion.

The Long Island City, NY-based low-cost carrier registered a completion factor (system wide) of 98.8% in the month with 71% flights on schedule.


In the first five months of 2018, the carrier posted a 5.4% rise in RPMs while ASMs grew 4.6%, both on a year-over-year basis. Also, load factor inched up 70 bps to 85.1%.

The company has revised its guidance for unit revenues in the second quarter of 2018. It now anticipates revenue per available seat mile (RASM) to decrease 2.5-0.5% year over year compared with the previous outlook of a decline of 3% to flat. This view includes a 2.5 point adversity from holiday placement and 1.25 point negativity from completion factor and co-brand incentive payments.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

JetBlue holds a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are GATX Corporation (GATX - Free Report) , SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW - Free Report) and Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (EXPD - Free Report) . While GATX and SkyWest carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Expeditors sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of GATX, SkyWest and Expeditors have rallied more than 17%, 6% and 20%, respectively, in the past six months.

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