JetBlue reported a net loss of $795 million for the full year, or a loss per share of $2.30, widening further from $310 million in 2023, or a loss per share of 93 cents. For the fourth quarter, net losses totalled $44 million, or a loss per share of 13 cents, improving upon net loss of $104 million, or 31 cents loss per share, a year prior.
Operating revenues were down 2.1% to $2.3bn for the quarter and down 3.5% to $9.3bn for the full year. TD Cowen analysts Tom Fitzgerald and Helane Becker said revenues were in line with their guidance, whilst also beating Wall Street consensus by around 0.9%.
Operating expenses totalled $10bn in the full year, up 1.2% on 2023. However, fourth quarter operating expenses were down 5.5% to $2.3bn in the fourth quarter. Cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding fuel was up 11% to 10.76 cents, which TD Cowen said was “well below estimates”. Including fuel, CASM was down 0.4% to 14 cents.
Operating loss for the full year totalled $684 million, more than doubling from its operating loss of $230 million in 2023. For the quarter, operating income swung to a positive $17 million, compared to an operating loss of $67 million in 2023’s fourth quarter, signalling the strength of its JetForward strategy revealed in September last year.
The strategy included a restructuring of its network by optimising operations and increasing the profitability of its routes, amongst other measures. The company said it had optimised approximately 20% of its network in 2024, with a significant portion of exits and redeploys occurring from October 2024 through January 2025. The company said JetForward had contributed $90 million to EBIT in 2024. The company maintained it is on track to boost its EBIT by around $800-900 million by 2027 via the strategy.
Capacity was down 3.5% in the full year and 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs) were down 2.9% in the year and down 2.6% in the quarter. The airline’s load factor was up 0.6 percentage point in the year to an average of 83.2%, and up 2.1 percentage points in the quarter to 82.2%. Revenue per available seat mile (RASM) was up 3.2% at 14.11 cents in the quarter and flat in the full year at 14.04 cents.
The company provided guidance outlook for the first quarter of the year, expecting capacity be down 2-5% compared to first quarter 2024. Capacity is expected to be flat for the full year. Cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding fuel is expected to be up 8-10% in the first quarter and up 5-7% in the full year. Fuel price per gallon is expected to be around $2.65 and $2.80 in the first quarter. Capital expenditures for the quarter are expected to total $270 million and $1.4bn for the year.
TD Cowen analysts said first quarter guidance “mainly in line” with expectations aside from its first quarter RASM guidance.
RASM is expected to be up 3.5% to a negative 0.5% in the first quarter. “We suspect this is why the shares are trading down in the pre-market,” the analysts said. “This seems more an issue of the sell-side not fully incorporating the impact of the Easter shift in our models versus underperformance by the company.”
RASM for the full year is expected to be up 3-6%.
As of the end of the year, JetBlue held $2.5bn in cash and cash equivalents. Assets totalled $16.8bn. Debt totalled $8.5bn and stockholders’ equity was $2.6bn.