unaligned

JetBlue Airways reported a Q1 net profit of US$199m, up 45.6% over net income of $137m in the prior-year period, as revenue increased 6.1% year-over-year to $1.62b. “Our bottom line results continue to improve,” JetBlue president and CE Robin Hayes said Tuesday. He noted that all 6 of JetBlue’s “focus cities” produced “double-digit profit margins over the last 12 months.” Hayes said JetBlue will make “minor capacity adjustments” in 2016 to contend with a competitive pricing environment in the US market, but added that the carrier’s “disciplined long-term strategic growth plan is working.” JetBlue’s Q1 operating expenses were essentially flat year-over-year at $1.27b, helped by a 35.8% drop in fuel costs to $215m, and operating profit was $349m, up 37.8% over operating income of $253m in the 2015 March quarter. <br/>

JetBlue Airways, which plans to add seats to its Airbus planes, may add a longer range, narrow-body aircraft from the jet maker and won’t rule out buying wide-body versions. “The A321LR is something we are looking very seriously at,” JetBlue CE Robin Hayes said Tuesday. “We think the incremental amount of complexity that provides is very manageable.” While adding twin-aisle planes with greater range “is a much bigger deal,” Hayes said he wouldn’t exclude it as “potentially something further out” for the based airline. Airbus in 2014 began discussing plans with airlines for a new variant of the single-aisle A321neo that would feature extra fuel tanks to increase range and could enter service in early 2019. The extended-range A321 would offer 100 nautical miles more than Boeing’s 757-200, and have a similar seat count. <br/>

JetBlue Airways president and CE Robin Hayes has confirmed publicly for the first time that JetBlue was the rival bidder for acquiring Virgin America, which has entered into an agreement to be purchased by Alaska Air Group. Alaska agreed to pay US$57 per share for Virgin America. “We did consider acquiring Virgin America as a way to more quickly build our [US] West Coast presence,” Hayes said. But he explained that the price reached a point where JetBlue concluded it would make more sense for it to continue to organically grow on the West Coast. “Acquiring Virgin America would have simply accelerated” organic West Coast growth plans already in place, Hayes said, adding that JetBlue came to view buying Virgin America as “a nice to have rather than a must have” deal. <br/>

Spirit Airlines reported Q1 adjusted net income of US$72.3m, as cheap fuel and revenue from bag and other fees added to its bottom line. On a GAAP basis the carrier reported net income of $61.9m. Total revenue of $538.1m was up 9.1% from $493.4m the previous year. "The pricing environment remains very competitive, but we aren't just sitting passively by," CE Bob Fornaro said. "We have upgraded our pricing systems, made modest revisions to our schedules, and adjusted our approach to inventory management." Lower prices and extra flights from Spirit, which said capacity increased 27% in the quarter from a year ago, pushed the carrier's total operating revenue as measured against capacity down 13.8%. The measure declined 16% in Q4. <br/>

Emirates sees growth opportunities in Africa, Asia and Europe over the next 12 months despite global economic concerns over a China slowdown and the UK leaving the EU. This month, the IMF downgraded its forecast for global growth this year due to instability in emerging markets, concerns over China and fractured political and economic ties in Europe. Still, Emirates sees growth in major and emerging markets. This year, the airline will add 6 new destinations – all in Asia - to its network. “There is growth within Africa, Asia, China, the Indian Subcontinent [and] Europe also,” shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, CE of Emirates airline said Tuesday. Emirates flew “over 50m” passengers in the 12 months to March 31, when its financial year ended, said Ahmad. <br/>

Chorus Aviation, the parent of Jazz Aviation, has placed a firm order for 5 Bombardier CRJ900s valued at US$229m at list prices. The 76-seat CRJ900s, which will include 12 business class seats, will enter service with Jazz in early 2017 under the Air Canada Express brand as part of Jazz’s capacity purchase agreement with Air Canada. Chorus has also taken purchase rights for 5 additional CRJ900s. Jazz also announced it will reconfigure its 16 75-seat CRJ705s to 76-seat aircraft with 2 classes, standardising those cabins with those of the incoming CRJ900s. Both the new CRJ900s and the reconfigured CRJ705s will have seatback inflight entertainment systems and Gogo wireless Internet access. Jazz will also reconfigure 21 Q400 NextGen turboprops to add 4 seats, going from 74 to 78 seats in all-economy class configuration. <br/>

Vanilla Air has taken delivery of the first of 3 new Airbus A320-200s from lessor BOC Aviation. The new aircraft, which are part of a region-wide expansion program, will add to its 8 existing A320s. The LCC said it intends to grow its fleet to 25 aircraft by 2020. In 2013, ANA rebranded AirAsia Japan as Vanilla Air. Following increases in Japanese passenger traffic and better financial results from its parent, the carrier said it will expand its domestic and international network with a focus on Asian routes from its base at Tokyo Narita International. It is also adding a new Kansai, Osaka-Taipei route to its schedule at the end of April, flagging a move to secondary and less-contested routes in the northeast Asia region. Vanilla Air president Tomonori Ishii said the LCC plans to begin locally, but would expand overseas as it grows. <br/>