SkyWest, Spirit Report Increased Revenues

Bucking the trend set by Big Airlines, Spirit and SkyWest Monday reported dramatic increases in profit for the first quarter of 2003 as compared to the year before.

"As a privately-held company we have never before chosen to divulge our financial data," said Jacob Schorr, CEO of Spirit Airlines. "However, in light of the state of the airline industry we thought it was time. We want the public to know that we provide both value and performance for their dollar. Spirit, as one of the lowest cost airlines, is committed to providing safe, reliable service at a low fare. We are a low fare airline because we want to be, not because we have to be."

Revenues increased 27% for the 1st quarter when compared to the same period last year as available seat miles increased by 31%.

Spirit Airlines operates on one of the lowest operating costs per available seat mile (CASM), the standard industry measurement. Spirit's CASM was 7.5 cents for the quarter. By comparison AirTran reported 8.6 cents and Southwest reported 7.5 cents, according to published reports.

Meanwhile... Over At SkyWest

SkyWest Airlines reported a 33.1 percent increase in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) for April, while available seat miles (ASMs) increased 30.7 percent compared to the same period last year. The airline generated 299.9 million RPMs for the month, while ASMs increased to 445.7 million. Load factor increased 1.3 points to 67.3 percent, compared to 66.0 percent for the same period last year. Passenger boardings for April totaled 775,130 an 18.0 percent increase over April 2002.

SkyWest operates as United Express and Delta Connection under marketing agreements with United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, respectively. SkyWest serves 98 cities with over 1,000 daily departures in 27 states and two Canadian provinces.

FMI: www.skywest.com, www.spiritair.com