(Bloomberg) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. raised its sales forecast for the current quarter after the carrier said it benefited from re-booking passengers from rival airlines whose flights were disrupted by a technology outage in July.
Revenue in the third quarter will be in the range of up 1% to down 2.5%, compared with a prior expectation of as much as a 5.5% decline, JetBlue said Thursday in a regulatory filing. The company also lowered its outlook for fuel costs and non-fuel expenses.
JetBlue cited “revenue uplift from the re-accommodation of customers affected by other airlines’ cancellations,” as well as improved in-month bookings in the Latin region. It’s also seeing progress under a plan to increase revenue by $300 million this year by refocusing on leisure customers in New York, New England, Florida and Puerto Rico. The airline has been ending service to some cities and cutting uprofitable routes.
“The carrier’s overall update looked encouraging,” even though the gain from customers booked on other airlines may have been temporary, Stephen Trent, a Citi analyst, said in a note.
An errant software update from CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. upended multiple industries over a period of several days in July, forcing airlines to cancel thousands of flights. Delta Air Lines Inc. was affected the worst, while some carriers largely sidestepped the problems due to their use of alternate systems.
JetBlue shares rose 4.7% at the start of regular trading Thursday in New York.
(Updates with analyst comment in fourth paragraph.)
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