JetBlue earnings soar on expansion, higher prices

JetBlue Airways Corp. said Thursday its third-quarter net income soared as it flew more passengers and made more money from fares and fees during the busy summer travel season.

The company, which kicked off a rapid expansion in Boston and the Caribbean this summer, earned $59 million, or 18 cents per share in the three months ended Sept. 30. A year ago, JetBlue earned $15 million, or 5 cents per share.

Shares jumped 6.6 percent, or 43 cents, to $6.94 in trading before the market opened.

Although discounters like JetBlue and Southwest fared better than Delta, United and American in 2008 and 2009, they still felt the impact of slumping travel demand. Now, all the U.S. airlines are posting their best third-quarter results in several years as more passengers return to air travel.

JetBlue’s third-quarter income exceeded what it earned for all of last year.

JetBlue relies heavily on vacationers traveling to the Caribbean, but it’s also trying to appeal to business travelers on the East Coast, who pay more for tickets. That goal became more important after its two main low-cost rivals, Southwest and AirTran, announced plans to combine.

Revenue rose 21 percent to $1.03 billion. The amount of money it made flying one paying passenger a single mile rose 11.4 percent, thanks to higher fares. JetBlue flew 9 percent more passengers this summer than a year earlier.

Thomson Reuters says analysts expected a profit of 19 cents per share on revenue of $1.03 billion.

JetBlue, which is based in Queens, expects to increase its number of available seats by about 8 to 10 percent in the fourth quarter as it continues to deploy new planes to its growing Boston and Caribbean markets.