The regional carrier group reported a 9.1 percent profit margin in the first quarter of 2006, a gain of 0.6 percentage points from the 8.5 percent profit margin in the first quarter of 2005. The seven regional carriers reported a $213 million operating profit in the first quarter of 2006. The low-cost group, without ATA, reported a 7.4 percentage point profit margin improvement over 2005 results, and a $129 domestic operating margin.
The largest percentage operating loss margins were reported by network carriers Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines. The top operating profit margin was reported by regional carrier Atlantic Southeast. The other top margins were reported by regional airlines Pinnacle Airlines and American Eagle Airlines.
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 in each group with the highest reported revenue in the most recent 12-month period.
The regional carriers reported the highest unit revenues in the first quarter at 15.4 cents per available seat-mile (ASM). Network carriers' unit revenues were 14.4 cents followed by the low-cost carrier group, without ATA, at 9.5 cents per ASM. All three groups exhibited increases in unit revenues over the year earlier period with the network airlines registering the sharpest gains at 2.4 cents.
The highest unit revenues were reported by regional carriers American Eagle and Comair and network carrier US Airways. The lowest unit revenues were reported by low-cost carriers JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
marketing@alchempro.com
