Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) said its fourth-quarter profit
surged as the carrier benefited from higher revenue and lower fuel
costs.
Southwest has been moving away from its roots as a pioneer
discount airline and seeking to bolster its service area beyond the
48 contiguous U.S. states.
The company said its passenger revenue per available seat mile,
a key performance metric for the airline industry, rose 4.2% in the
latest quarter.
Southwest reported income of $212 million, or 30 cents a share,
up from $78 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding
items, earnings rose to 33 cents a share from nine cents a
share.
Operating revenue increased 6.1% to $4.43 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast a
profit of 29 cents a share on revenue of $4.39 billion.
Fuel and oil costs fell 9.2% to $1.37 billion, as fuel costs
per-gallon dropped 8.1% to $3.05. Total operating expenses fell 1%
to $4.04 billion.
Earlier this month, Southwest said its passenger traffic rose
3.3% in the fourth quarter and capacity grew 2.2%. Load factor, or
the percentage of available seats filled, rose to 80.4%, up from
79.6% a year ago.
Shares closed Wednesday at $21.77 and were up 2.3% premarket.
The stock is up 33% in the past three months.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@wsj.com
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