Mexican ultra-low cost carrier Volaris has posted an 8.8% operating margin during the first half of 2015, up from a -9.6% operating margin in the prior-year period.
Volaris is expected to continue to grow its profit margin in the second half of the year, but at a much slower pace. Even so, demand remains strong for Volaris, which has allowed the airline to significantly increase its aircraft utilization. Last year, its average aircraft utilization was about 12.4 hours per day.
Volaris entered the third quarter with 53 airplanes: up about 10% from 48 a year earlier. It also has somewhat more seats due to upgauging its aircraft to A321s and an adding five seats to each of its A320s.
Rising aircraft utilization will allow Volaris to offset some of the negative impact of the weak peso on its cost structure.