MIRAMAR, Fla., April 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Spirit Airlines, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAVE) today reported first quarter 2017 financial results.

GAAP net income for the first quarter 2017 was $31.9 million ($0.46 per diluted share), or $35.6 million ($0.51 per diluted share)1 excluding special items.

GAAP operating margin for the first quarter 2017 was 10.0 percent, or 11.0 percent excluding special items1.

Spirit ended the first quarter 2017 with unrestricted cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments of $918.4 million.

Spirit’s return on invested capital (before taxes and excluding special items) for the twelve months ended March 31, 2017 was 21.0 percent2.
“During the first quarter, our team did an excellent job serving our customers while overcoming challenges caused by the tragic Fort Lauderdale airport event in early January, as well as dealing with various winter storms. Despite these and other challenges, we continue to make progress in improving our operational reliability. Our on-time performance3 improved 10.2 percentage points to 75.5 percent for the first quarter 2017. While we still have a ways to go to reach our desired operational goals, I thank the entire Spirit team for their contributions,” said Bob Fornaro, Spirit’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

Revenue Performance
For the first quarter 2017, Spirit’s total operating revenue was $591.7 million, an increase of 10.0 percent compared to the first quarter 2016, driven by an 11.9 percent increase in flight volume.

Total revenue per available seat mile (TRASM) for the first quarter 2017 decreased 4.2 percent compared to the same period last year, driven primarily by the calendar shift of Easter which is estimated to have accounted for approximately 3.5 percentage points of the year-over-year decline. In addition, it is estimated that the tragic Fort Lauderdale airport event and winter storm Helena together contributed another 0.75 percentage points of decline year over year in the first quarter 2017 TRASM.

On a per passenger flight segment basis, total revenue for the first quarter 2017 decreased 1.5 percent year over year to $106.24.

Cost Performance
For the first quarter 2017, total GAAP operating expense, including special items of $5.9 million4 primarily related to lease termination charges, increased 21.9 percent, or $95.5 million, year over year to $532.3 million. Adjusted operating expense for the first quarter 2017 increased 25.2 percent, or $106.0 million to $526.5 million5. The increase in both GAAP and adjusted operating expense was primarily driven by higher fuel rates and an increase in flight volume.

Aircraft fuel expense increased in the first quarter 2017 by 62.6 percent, or $53.8 million, compared to the same period last year, due to a 45.1 percent increase in the cost of fuel per gallon and a 12.1 percent increase in fuel gallons consumed.

Spirit reported first quarter 2017 cost per available seat mile (“ASM”), excluding special items and fuel (“Adjusted CASM ex-fuel”), of 5.62 cents5, an increase of 0.5 percent compared to the same period last year, driven primarily by higher depreciation and amortization and other operating expenses per ASM, largely offset by lower salaries, wages and benefits and lower aircraft rent per ASM.

“Although our TRASM for the first quarter 2017 was down year over year, primarily due to the timing shift of Easter, we continue to see good traction from our ticket and non-ticket revenue initiatives. Furthermore, our booking trends for the second quarter 2017 indicate we will see solid sequential improvement in TRASM, even without including the benefit from the Easter holiday shift,” said Ted Christie, Spirit’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “On the cost side, our team did a good job holding the line on Adjusted CASM ex-fuel despite headwinds from amortization expense related to heavy maintenance events, depreciation related to purchased aircraft, and higher ground handling rates and other inflationary pressures that resulted in higher other operating expense.”

Labor
Spirit and its pilots, represented by the Airline Pilots Association, remain in open contract negotiations under the supervision of the National Mediation Board.

Fleet
Spirit took delivery of three new A321ceo aircraft and two used A319 aircraft during the first quarter 2017, ending the quarter with 100 aircraft in its fleet.

Conference Call/Webcast Detail
Spirit will conduct a conference call to discuss these results today, April 28, 2017, at 9:00 a.m. ET. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available to the public on a listen-only basis at http://ir.spirit.com. An archive of the webcast will be available under Webcasts & Presentations for 60 days.