Spirit Airlines Q3 operations results declared, net income dips

Spirit Airlines recently announced its operational results for Q3 and expressed displeasure at the outcome. The airline reported that its Q3 income was down 55.2% y-o-y to US$27.7 million. The airline authorities cited the adverse impact because of Hurricane Irene. Besides, Spirit Airlines stated that there was 65.2% y-o-y increase in fuel expenses as well as a 38.9% rise in maintenance and repair costs.

According to the airline, its passenger traffic increased 15.6% to 2.11 billion RPMs on a 10.4% rise in capacity to 2.42 billion ASMs. The increase in load factor was 3.8 points to 87%. However, the airline officials said that they expected Q4 capacity to be up 5.6% y-o-y.

Spirit Airlines while announcing its operational results also stated that the introduction of a carry-on bag fee in August 2010 also led to a 30.4% rise in average non-ticket revenue per passenger flight segment (PFS) to US$44.66. The airline pointed out that its non-ticket revenue grew 56% to US$102 million in Q3.

Ben Baldanza, President and CEO of Spirit Airlines, said that drop in net income notwithstanding the Q3 results was strong with a 41.8% y-o-y increase in revenues to US$288.71 million, and a 112.4% increase in operating income to US$44.56 million.