Virgin America Reports Second Quarter 2014 Earnings

Airline Reports Second Quarter and Year-to-Date Net Income, Seventh Straight Quarter of Improved Year-over-Year Financial Results

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Virgin America

Aug 12, 2014, 10:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin America today reports its financial results for the second quarter of 2014 with operating income of $47.1 million and net income of $37.0 million. The airline posted an operating margin of 11.8 percent – a 4.4 point improvement over the second quarter of 2013, driven largely by a 7.8 percent growth in revenue per available seat mile (RASM) over the prior year period.

Second Quarter 2014 Financial Highlights

Operating Revenue: Total operating revenue of $398.8 million, an increase of 6.1 percent over the second quarter of 2013.
Revenue per Available Seat Mile (RASM): RASM increased 7.8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2013, to 12.46 cents. Year-over-year RASM growth was driven by a 5.0 percent increase in yield and a 1.2 point increase in load factor.
Cost per Available Seat Mile (CASM): Total CASM increased 2.7 percent compared to the second quarter of 2013, to 10.99 cents. CASM excluding fuel costs for the quarter increased 3.9 percent year-over-year, to 6.87 cents, primarily due to higher labor and airport costs.
Operating Income: Second quarter of 2014 operating income increased by 69.1 percent over the second quarter of 2013 to $47.1 million with an operating margin improvement of 4.4 points year-over-year.
Net Income: Net income for the quarter increased fourfold year-over-year, from $8.8 million to $37.0 million. Virgin America's year-to-date net income improved by $52.2 million from a net loss of $37.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2013 to net income of $14.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014, an improvement of 7.5 margin points.
Capacity: Available seat miles (ASMs) for the second quarter of 2014 decreased 1.6 percent year-over-year. The airline ended the quarter with 53 Airbus A320-family aircraft.
Liquidity: Unrestricted cash was $180.0 million as of June 30, 2014.

Operational Highlights
Recent key milestones achieved include:

In April, for the second straight year, Virgin America was the top-ranked airline in the Airline Quality Rating (AQR), an annual analysis of airline performance conducted by Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Based on publicly reported data all carriers must submit to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the AQR provides a ranking of how airlines stack up against each other on key metrics important to consumers including: on-time performance, customer complaints, denied boarding and mishandled bags.
In May, Virgin America announced that it had sub-leased two gates at Dallas Love Field (DAL) from American Airlines. Service from Love Field to New York's LaGuardia Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles International Airport, and San Francisco International Airport is scheduled to begin in October 2014.
In July, Virgin America secured "Top Domestic Airline" ranking for the seventh consecutive year in the annual Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards readers' survey.
Also in July, Virgin America took top honors for Best Low-Cost Airline in the U.S.A. for the fifth consecutive year as well as Best Staff Service among North American airlines for the fourth year in a row in the 2014 World Airline Awards (formerly Skytrax awards).

Virgin America, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Operations - Unaudited
For the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2014 and 2013
(in thousands)

	Three months ended				Six months ended
	June 30				June 30
	2014	2013	% Change		2014	2013	% Change

Passenger revenue	$ 357,619	$ 341,027	4.9		$ 633,837	$ 610,061	3.9
Other revenue	$ 41,227	$ 35,047	17.6		$ 78,398	$ 67,345	16.4
Total operating revenue	$ 398,846	$ 376,074	6.1		$ 712,235	$ 677,406	5.1


Aircraft fuel	$ 131,664	$ 133,312	(1.2)		$ 247,423	$ 249,908	(1.0)
Salaries, wages and benefits	$ 59,318	$ 48,930	21.2		$ 113,143	$ 94,245	20.1
Aircraft rent	$ 45,861	$ 51,707	(11.3)		$ 92,357	$ 110,725	(16.6)
Landing fees and other rent	$ 33,286	$ 31,189	6.7		$ 65,507	$ 58,758	11.5
Sales and marketing	$ 28,615	$ 29,952	(4.5)		$ 53,177	$ 48,184	10.4
Aircraft maintenance	$ 16,409	$ 15,432	6.3		$ 35,453	$ 32,892	7.8
Depreciation and amortization	$ 3,483	$ 3,249	7.2		$ 6,753	$ 6,408	5.4
Other operating expenses	$ 33,083	$ 34,431	(3.9)		$ 64,426	$ 63,390	1.6
Total operating expenses	$ 351,719	$ 348,202	1.0		$ 678,239	$ 664,510	2.1

Operating income (loss)	$ 47,127	$ 27,872	69.1		$ 33,996	$ 12,896	163.6

Operating Margin	11.8%	7.4%	4.4	pts	4.8%	1.9%	2.9	pts

Other expense	$ 9,877	$ 19,023	(48.1)		$ 19,051	$ 50,435	(62.2)

Income (loss) before taxes	$ 37,250	$ 8,849	321.0		$ 14,945	$ (37,539)	NM

Income tax expense	$ 267	$ -	NM		$ 316	$ -	NM

NET INCOME (LOSS)	$ 36,983	$ 8,849	317.9		$ 14,629	$ (37,539)	NM

	Three months ended				Six months ended
Key Operating Statistics	June 30				June 30
	2014	2013	% Change		2014	2013	% Change

Available seat miles (ASMs)(millions)	3,202	3,253	(1.6)		5,979	5,948	0.5
Departures	15,137	15,130	0.0		28,962	27,712	4.5
Average stage length (miles)	1,482	1,510	(1.9)		1,445	1,510	(4.3)
Aircraft in service	53	53	-		53	53	-
Fleet utilization (blk hours per ac day)	11.3	11.6	(2.6)		10.7	10.7	-

Passengers (thousands)	1,729	1,730	(0.1)		3,208	3,068	4.6
Average fare	$ 206.81	$ 197.07	4.9		$ 197.55	$ 198.86	(0.7)
Yield per passenger mile (cents)	13.15¢	12.52¢	5.0		12.89¢	12.70¢	1.5
Revenue passenger miles - RPMs (millions)	2,719	2,723	(0.1)		4,917	4,806	2.3
Load factor	84.9%	83.7%	1.2	pts	82.2%	80.8%	1.4	pts
Passenger revenue per available seat mile - PRASM (cents)	11.17¢	10.48¢	6.6		10.60¢	10.26¢	3.3
Total revenue per available seat mile - RASM (cents)	12.46¢	11.56¢	7.8		11.91¢	11.39¢	4.6

Cost per available seat mile - CASM (cents)	10.99¢	10.70¢	2.7		11.34¢	11.17¢	1.5
Cost per ASM, excluding fuel (cents)	6.87¢	6.61¢	3.9		7.21¢	6.97¢	3.4
Fuel cost per gallon	$ 3.11	$ 3.13	(0.6)		$ 3.14	$ 3.23	(2.8)
Fuel gallons consumed (thousands)	42,281	42,642	(0.8)		78,828	77,337	1.9
Teammates (FTEs)	2,500	2,375	5.3		2,500	2,375	5.3

Virgin America is announcing these financial results in advance of the U.S. Department of Transportation quarterly reports.

About Virgin America: Known for its mood-lit cabins, three beautifully designed classes of service and innovative fleetwide amenities — like touch-screen personal entertainment, WiFi and power outlets at every seat, Virgin America has built a loyal following of flyers and earned a host of awards since launching in 2007 — including being named both the "Best U.S. Airline" in Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards for the past six consecutive years and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards for the past seven consecutive years. For more: www.virginamerica.com

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SOURCE Virgin America