Virgin America has reversed a net loss of $145.4million in 2012 to report a net income of $10.1 million for the full year 2013. Revenue rose by 6.9% to $1.43 billion, with expenses rising by 1.5% to $1.34 billion. The carrier’s operating income was $80.9 million in 2013 compared to an operating loss of $31.7 million in 2012.
Total RASM increased 9.3% over 2012, to 11.64 cents, with CASM, excluding fuel costs, increasing by 3.3% to 6.83 cents. This modest increase was largely driven by network changes that reduced aircraft utilization by 6.7%. Total CASM increased by 0.5% to 10.96 cents.
Network changes led to a 2.2% decrease in ASMs for the full year. The average length of a flight (stage length) decreased by 5.9%, to 1,474 miles.
The Company completed a debt restructuring in May 2013, eliminating more than $300 million of debt and accrued interest and reducing interest rates on a majority of the remaining debt.
"2013 was a year of tremendous progress for Virgin America," said David Cush, Virgin America's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We continued to reach more customers in more markets and now have a network presence from San Francisco and Los Angeles to most of the primary business centers in the U.S. Staying focused on creating a significantly better travel experience for customers and capitalizing on our strong route network helped us achieve 9.3 percent unit revenue growth. Revenue per available seat mile is a critical measure of success, and our impressive performance in this area, coupled with our efficient cost structure and improvements to our capital structure, led to three consecutive profitable quarters and our first full year of net income."
Virgin America took delivery of one additional A320 aircraft in the first quarter of 2013, increasing the total operating fleet to 53 Airbus A320-Family aircraft.
The airline's total order with Airbus remains at 40 A320-Family aircraft, with five scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2015, five in the first half of 2016, and 30 scheduled for delivery starting in 2020.