Virgin America reports fourth quarter and full year 2013 profit

Virgin America reported fourth quarter 2013 net income of $14.2m, compared to a year ago quarterly loss of $25.0m, an improvement of $39.1m. Operating revenue totalled $359.9m, an increase of 2.7% from the fourth quarter of 2012. Operating income totalled $24m, an increase by $18.4 million year-over-year. Operating margin was 6.6%, an increase of 5.1 points from the fourth quarter of 2012. Revenue per Available Seat Mile (RASM) increased 4.1%, to 11.79 cents. Both increased load factor (up 1.6 points to 78.5%) and yield (up 2.4%) contributed to the RASM improvement. Full Year 2013 net income of $10.1m increased $155.5m from a loss of $145.4m in 2012. 2013 was Virgin America’s first full year of profitability. Total operating revenue for 2013 was $1.425bn, a $92m increase and 6.9% improvement over 2012. Operating income totalled $80.9m, an increase of $112.6m from 2012’s operating loss of $31.7m. 2013 operating margin was 5.7%, an increase of 8.1 points over 2012.