Virgin America posted a Q1 2016 net profit of US$17.5m, up 36.5% from a net profit of $12.8m in Q1 2015. The carrier’s results were “driven by continued unit revenue outperformance as compared with the domestic industry and the benefit of lower fuel costs,” Virgin America president and CE David Cush said. It is the airline’s eighth consecutive quarter of profitability. Virgin America’s net income excluding special items charged in the 2016 Q1 was $18.4m, up 74.5% year-over-year (YOY). The special charges were primarily related to the proposed merger with the Alaska Air Group. Q1 operating revenue was $364m, up 11.5% YOY; total operating expenses for the quarter were $332.1m, up 6.8% YOY. Operating profit for the quarter was $31.9m, more than doubling the airline’s Q1 2015 $15.4m operating income. <br/>
unaligned
Spring Airlines reported a 44% gain in Q1 profit as lower fuel prices and growth in Asian travel demand propelled earnings. Net income climbed to CNY366.7m (US$57m) from CNY254.3m a year earlier, the carrier said Thursday. For the full year, net income rose 50% to CNY1.3bin 2015, including a foreign-exchange loss of CNY79.1m. Crude oil prices fell more than 30% last year, helping lower fuel costs for carriers and boosting their earnings. Still, profit growth was tempered by foreign-exchange losses resulting from the yuan’s biggest decline since 1994, with the nation’s 3 biggest state-owned airlines recording a combined $2.5b loss from the Chinese govt’s surprise currency devaluation last year. Shares of Spring, set up in 2005, have gained fivefold since they started trading in Jan 2015, fuelled by potential growth in Asia. <br/>
Allegiant Travel, parent of Allegiant Air, reported Q1 net income of US$72m, up 11% from a $64.9m profit in the year-ago period. Q1 revenue rose 5.9% to $348.6m, while expenses rose 2.9 % to $227.5m, producing an operating profit of $121.1m, up 12.1% from a $108.1m operating profit in Q1 2015. Capacity increased 18.8% in the Q1 and the carrier is serving 75 more cities than it did last year at this time. The carrier also reported it has 11 Airbus A320s on order for delivery between Dec 2017 and Feb 2020. Total commitment is for 61 A320s. At the end of Q1, Allegiant had 11 Airbus A319s and 16 A320s, 5 Boeing 757s, and 50 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s. System traffic rose 15% to 2.5b RPMs on an 18.8% increase in capacity to 3b ASMs, producing a load factor of 84%, down 2.8 points. CASM decreased 13.5% to 7.58 cents. <br/>
JetBlue Airways will start 6 round-trip flights per weekday between New York's space-constrained LaGuardia and Boston in October, seeking to capture business travellers on the heavily trafficked route, the company said Thursday. JetBlue said it would move some of its LaGuardia-Florida flights to nearby Newark Liberty to free up take-off slots for the new Boston flights, now that the FAA has made it easier for airlines to grow at Newark. The moves take aim at United Continental, which has a grip on Newark air service, and more crucially Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, which operate hourly flights from LaGuardia to Boston. JetBlue said earlier this week that corporate travel demand is stagnant, although it has gained share of the lucrative market. <br/>
Afghanistan’s airlines are under threat of closure and suspension of services for allegedly flouting tax and safety rules, according to the country’s aviation authority and senior airline executives. The Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority is accusing the industry of skirting millions of dollars in taxes and ignoring aircraft-age rules that are intended to prevent older and potentially dangerous aircraft from flying. Safi Airways, the leading private airline in Afghanistan, has been asked to repay US$16m in backdated taxes, the civil-aviation authority and the airline have said. Kam Air, another private airline, has been sent a $14m bill. And East Horizon Airlines, the country’s third private airline, has been grounded since Dec 2015 after falling short of the aviation authority’s safety rules because of the age of its fleet. <br/>