Salaries, Wages and Benefits. Salaries, wages and benefits totaled $149,401,000 and $117,822,000 and were 27.0% and 25.0% of total mainline revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively, an increase of 26.8%. Salaries, wages and benefits increased over the prior comparable periods largely as a result of overall wage increases, and an increase in the number of employees to support our ASM growth of 31.7% during the nine months ended December 31, 2004. Flight Operations. Flight operations expenses of $96,107,000 and $75,418,000 were 17.4% and 16.0% of total mainline revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively, an increase of 27.4%. Aircraft insurance expenses totaled $7,678,000 (1.4% of total mainline revenues) for the nine months ended December 31, 2004. Aircraft insurance expenses for the nine months ended December 31, 2003 were $7,433,000 (1.6% of total mainline revenues). Aircraft insurance expenses were .16¢ and .20¢ per mainline RPM for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively. Pilot and flight attendant salaries before payroll taxes and benefits totaled $52,770,000 and $38,760,000 or 9.8% and 8.5% of mainline passenger revenue for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, an increase of 36.1%. Pilot and flight attendant compensation for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 also increased as a result of a 20.3% increase in the average number of mainline aircraft in service, respectively, an increase of 32.4% in mainline block hours, respectively, a general wage increase in flight attendant and pilot salaries and additional crew required to replace those who were attending training on the Airbus equipment. We pay pilot and flight attendant salaries for training, consisting of approximately six weeks each, prior to scheduled increases in service, which can cause the compensation expense during such periods to appear high in relationship to the average number of aircraft in service. Aircraft Fuel Expenses. Aircraft fuel expenses of $138,525,000 for 99,483,000 gallons used and $75,988,000 for 76,745,000 gallons used resulted in an average fuel cost of $1.39 and 99.0¢ per gallon, for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively. Aircraft fuel expenses represented 25.1% and 16.1% of total mainline revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively. The results of operations for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 include an unrealized net derivative gain of $432,000 and a realized net gain of $2,490,000 in cash payments received from a counter-party recorded as a decrease in fuel expense. The results of operations for the nine months ended December 31, 2003 include an unrealized derivative gain of $539,000 and a realized net gain of $515,000 in cash payments recorded as a decrease in fuel expense. Fuel consumption for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 averaged 727 and 743 gallons per mainline block hour, respectively, or a decrease of 2.2%. Fuel consumption per mainline block hour decreased as a result of the increase in Airbus aircraft coupled with the reduction in our Boeing fleet, which has higher fuel burn rates. Aircraft Lease Expense. Aircraft lease expenses totaled $63,978,000 (11.6% of total mainline revenues) and $52,359,000 (11.1% of total mainline revenues) for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively, an increase of 22.2%. The average number of leased aircraft increased 16.4% from 26.2 to 30.5 during the nine months ended December 31, 2004. Aircraft and Traffic Servicing. Aircraft and traffic servicing expenses were $95,209,000 and $79,701,000 (an increase of 19.5%) for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively, and represented 17.2% and 16.9% of total mainline revenues. During the nine months ended December 31, 2004, our mainline departures increased to 54,723 from 45,414 for the nine months ended December 31, 2003, or 20.5%. Aircraft and traffic servicing expenses were $1,740 per mainline departure for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 as compared to $1,755 per mainline departure for the nine months ended December 31, 2003, or a decrease of $15 per mainline departure. Maintenance. Maintenance expenses of $57,582,000 and $52,322,000 were 10.4% and 11.1% of total mainline revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively, an increase of 10.1%. Maintenance cost per mainline block hour for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 were $421 and $506, respectively, a decrease of 16.8%. Promotion and Sales. Promotion and sales expenses totaled $57,827,000 and $48,313,000 and were 10.5% and 10.3% of total mainline revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively, an increase of 19.7%. During the nine months ended December 31, 2004, promotion and sales expenses per mainline passenger decreased to $11.62 compared to $11.71 for the nine months ended December 31, 2003. |