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JetBlue Airways (JBLU) April Traffic Rises 8.2%, Capacity Up

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The Long Island City, NY-based carrier JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU - Free Report) posted a significant rise in air traffic for the month of Apr 2017. Traffic – measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) – improved 8.2% year over year to 4.06 billion.

On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) expanded 6.6% to 4.77 billion. Load factor or percentage of seats filled by passengers increased 120 basis points (bps) to 85.3% in the month. Load factor increased as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion in April. The low-cost carrier registered a completion factor (system wide) of 98.5% in the month, with 72.4% flights on schedule.

On a year-to-date basis, the carrier posted a 5% rise in RPMs, while ASMs rose 4.8% to both on a year-over-year basis. Load factor inched up 10 bps year over year to 84.3%.

JetBlue maintains its projection for revenue per available seat mile (RASM) for the second quarter of 2017 at the range of 3%–6%.

The company recently reported first-quarter 2017 numbers. The carrier posted mixed results, with earnings beating estimates and revenues missing the same. Other key sector participants like Hawaiian Holdings (HA - Free Report) and Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT - Free Report) also recently released their first-quarter 2017 numbers.

Price Performance

Shares of JetBlue have outperformed the Zacks categorized Transportation- Airline industry over the last three months. The stock gained 8.97%, while the industry rose 6.17%. The impressive traffic results are expected to boost the stock performance.

Zacks Rank & Key Pick

JetBlue currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the airline space is Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DLAKY - Free Report) , with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here

Shares of Deutsche Lufthansa rallied 44% on a year-to-date basis.

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