Virgin Blue passenger numbers soar
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Virgin Blue passenger numbers soar
AAP
Virgin Blue passenger numbers soar
July 21, 2004 - 4:44PM
Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd's monthly passenger numbers have passed the one million mark for the first time.
Passenger numbers for June increased by 41.5 per cent over the previous year, the airline said in its regular operating statistics report.
The good news lifted Virgin Blue's shares by three cents to $2.01 on Wednesday.
Virgin Blue, which listed in December and is 25 per cent owned by Richard Branson's Virgin group of the UK, carried 1.014 million passengers, up from 946,700 in May and 716,843 in June 2003.
Revenue load factor, which measures passenger kilometres against available seats, fell to 76.2 per cent, down by 6.3 points on June 2003.
But that was an improvement's on May's fall of 12.4 points, which sparked a seven cent sell-off in the stock to $1.94.
The airline's year-to-date revenue load factor is 73.8 per cent, down 9.3 points on last year.
Analysts said while the landmark made in passenger numbers was welcome, Virgin still faced an uphill battle to reach its desired 50 per cent share of the Australian domestic market, particularly now that it is faced with competition from Qantas' low cost carrier Jetstar.
"That still weighs on the share price," one said.
At March 31, Virgin Blue's market share was 33 per cent.
The airline also reported on Wednesday a rise in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) of 45.3 per cent while capacity, measured by Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) was 57.3 per cent up on June 2003.
Since April 1, the start of Virgin Blue's financial year, passengers carried has totalled 2.885 million, up 35.5 per cent over the same period last year.
Virgin Blue shares listed last December at $2.25.
© 2004 AAP
===========================================
Virgin Blue passenger numbers soar
July 21, 2004 - 4:44PM
Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd's monthly passenger numbers have passed the one million mark for the first time.
Passenger numbers for June increased by 41.5 per cent over the previous year, the airline said in its regular operating statistics report.
The good news lifted Virgin Blue's shares by three cents to $2.01 on Wednesday.
Virgin Blue, which listed in December and is 25 per cent owned by Richard Branson's Virgin group of the UK, carried 1.014 million passengers, up from 946,700 in May and 716,843 in June 2003.
Revenue load factor, which measures passenger kilometres against available seats, fell to 76.2 per cent, down by 6.3 points on June 2003.
But that was an improvement's on May's fall of 12.4 points, which sparked a seven cent sell-off in the stock to $1.94.
The airline's year-to-date revenue load factor is 73.8 per cent, down 9.3 points on last year.
Analysts said while the landmark made in passenger numbers was welcome, Virgin still faced an uphill battle to reach its desired 50 per cent share of the Australian domestic market, particularly now that it is faced with competition from Qantas' low cost carrier Jetstar.
"That still weighs on the share price," one said.
At March 31, Virgin Blue's market share was 33 per cent.
The airline also reported on Wednesday a rise in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) of 45.3 per cent while capacity, measured by Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) was 57.3 per cent up on June 2003.
Since April 1, the start of Virgin Blue's financial year, passengers carried has totalled 2.885 million, up 35.5 per cent over the same period last year.
Virgin Blue shares listed last December at $2.25.
© 2004 AAP
===========================================
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Queen's holiday helps Virgin to fill more seats
Thurs "Sydney Morning Herald"
Queen's holiday helps Virgin to fill more seats
By Scott Rochfort
July 22, 2004
Virgin Blue yesterday reported a sharp lift in the percentage of seats it filled in June, allaying concerns it could lose market share to Qantas's low-cost offshoot, Jetstar.
After sharp falls in load factors for April and May, Virgin said it filled 76.2 per cent of its seats for June, compared to the previous month's 70.2 per cent.
The figure was still well down on the previous June's 82.5 per cent. But given the airline had grown its fleet of 737s from 30 to 46 over the period, the airline said it was beginning to fill the extra capacity.
After previously linking its huge rise in capacity to the fall in load factors, Virgin Blue's head of strategy, David Huttner, said: "Airline capacity takes some time to sponge up and now it's starting to sponge up."
The result was also helped by Virgin having had its busiest day, during the Queen's Birthday weekend holiday.
For the first time, Virgin also carried more than 1 million passengers in one month.
As for Virgin's plans to set up an international carrier, which might fly to Los Angeles, Mr Huttner said it would still be a matter of months before a final decision was made.
"We know it's [Los Angeles] been a lucrative route. The question is, are we the ones to fill the gap? We have to decide if we can run this business independently of our current business," he said.
Citigroup Smith Barney analyst Jason Smith said the US plans possibly reflected the lack of sizeable growth opportunities left for Virgin in Australia and New Zealand. He said the lift in load factors for June might also have been skewed by 200,000 $29 one-way tickets Virgin put on the market in late February to combat Jetstar.
If not for the cheap tickets, Mr Smith said, Virgin's load factors for the month might have fallen to 68 per cent to 70 per cent.
Conversely, however, Mr Smith said the cheap tickets could have a heavy impact on Virgin's revenues for the month.
"I still think there's going to be ongoing yield pressure," he said.
Meanwhile, the founder of discount Malaysian airline AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, confirmed he was no longer interested in securing Virgin as a potential shareholder or partner.
Mr Fernandes told news agency Bloomberg the deal could not go ahead because Virgin wanted "a bigger stake, more control".
It is understood Mr Fernandes held talks with Virgin Blue in Brisbane in April.
==========================================
Queen's holiday helps Virgin to fill more seats
By Scott Rochfort
July 22, 2004
Virgin Blue yesterday reported a sharp lift in the percentage of seats it filled in June, allaying concerns it could lose market share to Qantas's low-cost offshoot, Jetstar.
After sharp falls in load factors for April and May, Virgin said it filled 76.2 per cent of its seats for June, compared to the previous month's 70.2 per cent.
The figure was still well down on the previous June's 82.5 per cent. But given the airline had grown its fleet of 737s from 30 to 46 over the period, the airline said it was beginning to fill the extra capacity.
After previously linking its huge rise in capacity to the fall in load factors, Virgin Blue's head of strategy, David Huttner, said: "Airline capacity takes some time to sponge up and now it's starting to sponge up."
The result was also helped by Virgin having had its busiest day, during the Queen's Birthday weekend holiday.
For the first time, Virgin also carried more than 1 million passengers in one month.
As for Virgin's plans to set up an international carrier, which might fly to Los Angeles, Mr Huttner said it would still be a matter of months before a final decision was made.
"We know it's [Los Angeles] been a lucrative route. The question is, are we the ones to fill the gap? We have to decide if we can run this business independently of our current business," he said.
Citigroup Smith Barney analyst Jason Smith said the US plans possibly reflected the lack of sizeable growth opportunities left for Virgin in Australia and New Zealand. He said the lift in load factors for June might also have been skewed by 200,000 $29 one-way tickets Virgin put on the market in late February to combat Jetstar.
If not for the cheap tickets, Mr Smith said, Virgin's load factors for the month might have fallen to 68 per cent to 70 per cent.
Conversely, however, Mr Smith said the cheap tickets could have a heavy impact on Virgin's revenues for the month.
"I still think there's going to be ongoing yield pressure," he said.
Meanwhile, the founder of discount Malaysian airline AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, confirmed he was no longer interested in securing Virgin as a potential shareholder or partner.
Mr Fernandes told news agency Bloomberg the deal could not go ahead because Virgin wanted "a bigger stake, more control".
It is understood Mr Fernandes held talks with Virgin Blue in Brisbane in April.
==========================================
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Analysts still cautious on Virgin Blue
AAP
Analysts still cautious on Virgin Blue
July 22, 2004 - 6:59PM
Market share for Virgin Blue, the discount airline partly owned by Sir Richard Branson, may have increased slightly in June based on that months' operating statistics, according to analysts.
Virgin Blue, which listed on the share market in December, said Wednesday that passenger numbers for June increased by 41.5 per cent over the same period last year.
The company, owned 25 per cent owned by Sir Richard's Virgin group of the UK, carried 1.014 million passengers, up from 946,700 in May and 716,843 in June 2003.
Revenue load factor, which measures passenger kilometres against available seats, fell to 76.2 per cent, down by 6.3 points on June 2003 - an improvement's on May's fall of 12.4 points.
"We see the June stats as signalling a return to the targeted load factor of 80 per cent," Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Greg Ward said in a client note.
"As highlighted, we believe this recovery is likely to continue through July, which is typically a strong month for loans than June."
Mr Ward, who maintains a market weight rating on Virgin Blue, said the company is undervalued at current levels.
Shares in Virgin closed three cents higher at $2.04 on Thursday.
CSFB's 12 month share price target for the airline is $3.02.
UBS, which has a neutral rating on the airline, said Virgin Blue's report was in line with its fiscal year 2005 forecast of a 78 per cent average load factor.
It said that after looking at Sydney Airport June passenger numbers that Virgin's market share had likely risen.
"It would appear that after adding 0.7 per cent market share points in May that VBA market share in June is likely to have improved again in June to around 34 per cent," it said.
Virgin's market share was 33 per cent at March 31.
Goldman Sachs JBWere said the June results were an improvement but it still sees Virgin underperforming in the short term.
"The improvement in June load factors had been anticipated as the disruption to booking patterns associated with the launch of (Qantas' low cost carrier) Jetstar unwound and the market capacity growth passed its fiscal year (2004/05) peak," the brokerage said.
"We remain relatively cautious in the lead up to interim results."
© 2004 AAP
==========================================
Analysts still cautious on Virgin Blue
July 22, 2004 - 6:59PM
Market share for Virgin Blue, the discount airline partly owned by Sir Richard Branson, may have increased slightly in June based on that months' operating statistics, according to analysts.
Virgin Blue, which listed on the share market in December, said Wednesday that passenger numbers for June increased by 41.5 per cent over the same period last year.
The company, owned 25 per cent owned by Sir Richard's Virgin group of the UK, carried 1.014 million passengers, up from 946,700 in May and 716,843 in June 2003.
Revenue load factor, which measures passenger kilometres against available seats, fell to 76.2 per cent, down by 6.3 points on June 2003 - an improvement's on May's fall of 12.4 points.
"We see the June stats as signalling a return to the targeted load factor of 80 per cent," Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Greg Ward said in a client note.
"As highlighted, we believe this recovery is likely to continue through July, which is typically a strong month for loans than June."
Mr Ward, who maintains a market weight rating on Virgin Blue, said the company is undervalued at current levels.
Shares in Virgin closed three cents higher at $2.04 on Thursday.
CSFB's 12 month share price target for the airline is $3.02.
UBS, which has a neutral rating on the airline, said Virgin Blue's report was in line with its fiscal year 2005 forecast of a 78 per cent average load factor.
It said that after looking at Sydney Airport June passenger numbers that Virgin's market share had likely risen.
"It would appear that after adding 0.7 per cent market share points in May that VBA market share in June is likely to have improved again in June to around 34 per cent," it said.
Virgin's market share was 33 per cent at March 31.
Goldman Sachs JBWere said the June results were an improvement but it still sees Virgin underperforming in the short term.
"The improvement in June load factors had been anticipated as the disruption to booking patterns associated with the launch of (Qantas' low cost carrier) Jetstar unwound and the market capacity growth passed its fiscal year (2004/05) peak," the brokerage said.
"We remain relatively cautious in the lead up to interim results."
© 2004 AAP
==========================================
