Frontier Airlines has no hedges in place on fuel for this year, but the CEO of parent company Republic Airways says he is confident the low-cost carrier subsidiary has reduced its costs and improved its revenue enough to make a profit even if jet fuel prices average $3.50 per gallon this year.
Republic’s current plan for Frontier projects “really good margins” at $3.30, Republic Chairman and CEO Bryan Bedford said March 1 during Republic’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
At $3.50 a gallon, about where the price stood as of March 1, “we have to make some assumption on whether we’ll see any of that coming back in the form of ticket price increases,” he added. “But assuming we see some number, you know half of that will come back in ticket price increases, which we think is reasonable, we’re going to get to a positive margin for the year on Frontier.”
via Frontier Enters 2012 Without A Fuel Hedge | AVIATION WEEK.