JetBlue May load factor rises, as traffic growth outpaced a rise in capacity

JetBlue Airways Corp. reported Tuesday May load factor rose to 85.8% from 84.7%, as increased passenger demand outpaced growth seat supply. Traffic for the month rose 8.9% from a year ago to 4.34 billion revenue passenger miles, while capacity increased 7.6% to 5.06 billion available seat miles. The air carrier narrowed its guidance range for second-quarter revenue per available seat mile to a decline of 2.5% to a decline of 0.5% from a decline of 3.0% to 0.0%. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has lost 13.4% over the past three months, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has shed 12.6% and the S&P 500 has slipped less than 0.1%.