BTS Releases 1st-Quarter 2012 Airline Financial Data;
Largest Airlines Report Profit
The largest scheduled passenger airlines reported a 0.7 percent profit margin in the first quarter of 2012, up from the 0.5 percent loss in the first quarter of 2011, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today in a release of preliminary data.
BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the 10 large airlines reported an operating profit margin as a group in each of the last four quarters, although the margin has declined in each of the last two quarters. As a group, they posted a profit of $228 million, with losses reported by American Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy, United Airlines, which was in the process of merging with Continental Airlines, and AirTran Airways, which was in the process of merging with Southwest Airlines. These 10 airlines carried 79.8 percent of
As part of their first-quarter revenue, all U.S. passenger airlines collected $816 million in baggage fees and $631 million from reservation change fees from January through March 2012.
Baggage fees and reservation change fees are the only ancillary fees paid by passengers that are reported to BTS as separate items. Other fees, such as revenue from seating assignments and on-board sales of food, beverages, pillows, blankets, and entertainment are reported in a different category with other items and cannot be identified separately.
The press release included these tables for the 10 top carriers: Table 2, Unit Costs; Table 3, Unit Revenues; Table 4, Passenger Revenue Yield.
Additional airline financial data can be found on the BTS website, including numbers for other individual low-cost and regional airlines reported on previous BTS quarterly financial press releases. Operating profit/loss and operating revenue can be found on the tables linked here. Fuel cost and consumption numbers are available on these tables . See the BTS financial databases for more detailed data.
See BTS Airline Financials Release for summary tables and additional data.