Mesa Air Group requested the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics maintain confidentiality for its third quarter Mesa Requests Q3 Confidentiality 2008 financial report, according to the third quarter report issued last week. Alaska Airlines and Allegiant Airlines requested confidentiality beginning with their second quarter 2008 financial reports. The numbers are being withheld pending a decision on their motions. The tables in this release include their previous quarterly data. Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines failed to file its third quarter financial data with BTS. The failure to file was referred to the Department’s Office of General Counsel for review.
In the meantime, the top three operating profit margins were reported by regional carriers Comair, SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Network carriers US Airways and United Airlines and low-cost carrier AirTran Airways reported the worst operating loss margins. The six largest network airlines, as a group, reported an operating loss margin of 5.8 percent in the third quarter of 2008, the fourth consecutive quarterly loss margin since the group reported a profit margin in the third quarter of 2007.
The last time Mesa reported out its quarterly financials was for its second quarter when it posted a pro forma net loss for the second quarter of $4.1 million or $0.15 per diluted share and announced the sale of Kunpeng Airlines. Related Story
BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that five of the six reporting network carriers, most of the industry’s largest carriers, reported an operating loss margin in the July-to-September period. Only Delta Air Lines reported an operating profit. Operating margin measures profit or loss as a percentage of the airline’s total operating revenue.
The six reporting network carriers spent 36.1 percent of their operating expenses in the third quarter of 2008 on fuel, compared to 13.6 percent five years earlier in the third quarter of 2003. The total industry collected $349.8 million in excess baggage fees in the third quarter of 2008, up from $178.2 million in the second quarter and $122.4 million in the third quarter of 2007.

Operating Margins
The six reporting network carriers posted a loss margin of 5.8 percent in the third quarter with a combined operating loss of $1.692 billion. In the third quarter of 2007, the seven network carriers reported an operating profit margin of 8.8 percent with a combined profit of $2.387 billion.

Fuel Expenses
The six reporting network carriers spent 6.20 cents per available seat-mile (ASM) for fuel in the third quarter of 2008, up from 1.47 cents per ASM in the third quarter of 2003.
Regional airlines Atlantic Southeast, Comair and American Eagle Airlines spent the most for fuel per ASM while regional airlines ExpressJet Airlines and SkyWest and low-cost airline Southwest Airlines spent the least.
Low-cost airlines AirTran and JetBlue Airways and Atlantic Southeast spent the largest portion of their operating costs while regional airline ExpressJet, US Airways and Delta spent the least.

Unit Costs
The six reporting network carriers reported unit costs of 16.6 cents per ASM in the third quarter of 2008 up from 13.6 cents per ASM in the third quarter of 2007.
The carriers with the highest unit costs were regional airlines Comair and Horizon Air and network airline US Airways. The lowest unit costs were reported by low-cost carriers Southwest and JetBlue and regional carrier ExpressJet.

Unit Revenues
The six reporting network carriers’ unit revenues in the third quarter of 2008 were 15.7 cents per ASM compared to 14.9 cents in the third quarter of 2007.
The highest unit revenues were reported by regional carriers Comair, Horizon and American Eagle. The lowest unit revenues were reported by regional carrier ExpressJet and low-cost carriers Southwest and AirTran. Northwest Airlines reported the highest unit revenues of any network airline.

Passenger Yield
The six reporting network airlines’ passenger yield was 13.5 cents per revenue passenger-mile (RPM) in the third quarter of 2008, up from 13.0 cents per RPM in the third quarter of 2007. Passenger revenue yield measures passenger revenues against total travel by dividing passenger revenues by RPMs.
The top passenger revenue yields were reported by regional carriers American Eagle, Comair and Horizon. The lowest passenger revenue yields were reported by low-cost carriers JetBlue, AirTran and Frontier. American Airlines reported the highest passenger yield of any network carrier.