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BTS Releases First Quarter 2004 Airline Financial Data; Regional Passenger Airlines Report Highest Rate of Domestic Profit

BTS 16-04

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Roger Lotz
202-366-2246

Monday, June 14, 2004 - The seven largest regional airlines had the highest domestic operating margins ― an industry measure of profitability ― of any carrier groups during the first quarter of 2004, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation reported today in a release of preliminary data.

This group of regional carriers reported a domestic operating profit margin of 11.3 percent for the first quarter, above the profit margin of 1.8 percent reported by the seven largest low-cost air carriers and the 9.9 percent loss margin reported by seven largest network carriers (Table 1). Domestic operating margin measures operating profit or loss as a percentage of the airline’s total domestic operating revenue.

The industry operating margin fell from the fourth quarter to the first quarter. Quarter-to-quarter changes may be affected by seasonal factors.

The selected low-cost carriers showed a slightly improved profit margin over the first quarter of 2003 while the selected network carriers reduced their operating loss margin from a year earlier.

The largest operating loss margins were reported by low-cost carrier ATA Airlines (Table 3) and by United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, both network carriers (Table 2). The top operating profit margins were reported by SkyWest Airlines, American Eagle Airlines and Air Wisconsin, all regional carriers (Table 4).

Network carriers operate a significant portion of their flights using at least one hub where connections are made for flights on a spoke system. Low-cost carriers are those that the industry generally recognizes as operating under a low-cost business model. Regional carriers provide service from small cities, using primarily regional jets to support the network carriers’ hub and spoke systems. The selected groups consist of the seven carriers with the highest annual reported revenue in each group.

The regional carriers had the highest unit revenues with 15.3 cents per available seat mile (Table 5). These higher unit revenues generally reflect the shorter flights flown by these carriers. They average flights of 300 to 450 miles, compared to the 1,000-mile average stage length for the network carriers. Domestic unit revenue measures revenues against capacity by dividing domestic operating revenues by domestic available seat miles.

Overall, the highest unit revenues were reported by Atlantic Coast Airlines, Air Wisconsin and American Eagle (Table 8). The lowest unit revenues were reported by ATA, JetBlue Airways and America West Airlines (Table 7). US Airways reported the highest unit revenues among the selected network carriers (Table 6).

The regional carriers also reported the highest domestic unit costs – 13.6 cents per available seat mile (Table 9). The low-cost carriers reported the lowest unit costs – 7.6 cents per available seat mile. All of the selected low-cost carriers had lower unit costs than any of the regional or network carriers (Table 10, Table 11 and Table 12). Domestic unit cost measures expenses against capacity by dividing domestic operating expenses by domestic available seat miles.

The carriers with the highest unit costs were Atlantic Coast, US Airways and Air Wisconsin. The carriers with the lowest unit costs were JetBlue, ATA and America West.

The regional carriers also reported the highest domestic passenger revenue yields ― at 23.4 cents per revenue passenger mile, nearly twice the rate compared to the network and low-cost carriers (Table 13). Domestic passenger revenue yield measures passenger revenues against total travel by dividing domestic passenger revenues by domestic revenue passenger miles.

The top passenger revenue yields were reported by Atlantic Coast, American Eagle and Air Wisconsin (Table 16). The lowest passenger revenue yields were reported by JetBlue, ATA and America West (Table 15). Northwest reported the highest revenue yield of any network carrier (Table 14).

Table 1: Quarterly Domestic Operating profit/loss margin (in percent)

Passenger Airlines by Group
Ranked by 1st Quarter 2004 Margin
(Operating Profit/Loss as Percent of Total Operating Revenue)

BTS Releases First Quarter 2004 Airline Financial Data; Regional Passenger Airlines Report Highest Rate of Domestic Profit

Table 1: Quarterly Domestic Operating profit/loss margin (in percent)

Table 2: Quarterly Domestic Operating profit/loss margin (in percent)

Table 3: Quarterly Domestic Operating profit/loss margin (in percent)

Table 4: Quarterly Domestic Operating profit/loss margin (in percent)

Table 5. Airline Domestic Unit Revenue (Cents Per Mile)

Table 6. Airline Domestic Unit Revenue (Cents Per Mile)

Table 7. Airline Domestic Unit Revenue (Cents Per Mile)

Table 8. Airline Domestic Unit Revenue (Cents Per Mile)

Table 9. Airline Domestic Unit Costs (Cents per Mile)

Table 10. Airline Domestic Unit Costs (Cents per Mile)

Table 11. Airline Domestic Unit Costs (Cents per Mile)

Table 12. Airline Domestic Unit Costs (Cents per Mile)

Table 13. Domestic Passenger Revenue Yield (Cents per Mile)

Table 14. Domestic Passenger Revenue Yield (Cents per Mile)

Table 15. Domestic Passenger Revenue Yield (Cents per Mile)

Table 16. Domestic Passenger Revenue Yield (Cents per Mile)