Virgin America has reported a net loss of $12.6 million during the third quarter, compared to the $3.3 million net loss posted during the same period last year.
The San Francisco-based carrier’s operating revenues rose by 26.6% to $368 million as expenses grew by 28.4% to $352.2 million. Virgin America’s operating profit therefore dropped by 2.4% to $15.8 million.
EBITDAR rose 23.6% in the third quarter to $74.9 million.
President and CEO David Cush cited high fuel prices and a challenging expansion into new markets during a recession as the reason for the results.
“All airlines have faced these same industry challenges, but none have done so as a brand new carrier fueling 73% capacity growth in the past 24 months. We’ve consistently seen that markets we operate in longer than 12 to 18 months mature into profitability, demonstrating that once people fly with us, they stay with us—especially higher-yielding business travelers.”
The carrier flew more passengers as RPMs rose 23.8%to 2.69 billion, with capacity up by 31% increase to 3.38 billion ASMs. The airline’s load factor was 79.6%, down 4.6 points. Yield increased 2% to 12.55 cents. CASM decreased 2% to 10.44 cents.
Virgin America posts disappointing third quarter results
