NEW YORK, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JetBlue Airways Corporation (Nasdaq: JBLU) reported today that its traffic in December increased 7.5 percent from December 2008, on a capacity increase of 6.6 percent.

Load factor for December 2009 was 80.0 percent, an increase of 0.6 points from December 2008. JetBlue's preliminary completion factor was 96.8 percent and its on-time (1) performance was 66.8 percent. JetBlue's preliminary passenger revenue per available seat mile for the month of December decreased three percent year over year.


                       JETBLUE AIRWAYS TRAFFIC RESULTS

                               December 2009     December 2008   % Change
    Revenue passenger
     miles (000)                    2,280,201         2,122,020         7.5 %
    Available seat
     miles (000)                    2,848,699         2,671,710         6.6 %
    Load factor                         80.0 %            79.4 %    0.6 pts.
    Revenue passengers              1,960,367         1,841,761         6.4 %
    Departures                         18,438            17,681         4.3 %
    Average stage
     length                             1,098             1,076         2.0 %

                                Y-T-D 2009        Y-T-D 2008     % Change
    Revenue passenger
     miles (000)                   25,955,397        26,070,799        (0.4)%
    Available seat
     miles (000)                   32,557,502        32,442,332         0.4 %
    Load factor                         79.7 %            80.4 %  (0.7) pts.
    Revenue passengers             22,449,945        21,920,442         2.4 %
    Departures                        215,526           205,389         4.9 %
    Average stage
     length                             1,076             1,120        (3.9)%

(1) The U.S. Department of Transportation considers on-time arrivals to be those domestic flights arriving within 14 minutes of schedule.

New York-based JetBlue Airways has created a new airline category based on value, service and style. Known for its award-winning service and free TV as much as its low fares, JetBlue is now pleased to offer customers Lots of Legroom and super-spacious Even More Legroom seats. JetBlue introduced complimentary in-flight e-mail and instant messaging services on aircraft "BetaBlue," a first among U.S. domestic airlines. JetBlue is also America's first and only airline to offer its own Customer Bill of Rights, with meaningful and specific compensation for customers inconvenienced by service disruptions within JetBlue's control. Visit www.jetblue.com/promise for details. JetBlue serves 60 cities with 600 daily flights. With JetBlue, all seats are assigned, all travel is ticketless, all fares are one-way, and an overnight stay is never required. For information or reservations call 1-800-JETBLUE (1-800-538-2583), TTY/TDD 1-800-336-5530 or visit www.jetblue.com.

This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature which represent our management's beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. When used in this document and in documents incorporated herein by reference, the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "indicates," "believes," "forecast," "guidance," "outlook," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "targets" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and are based on information currently available to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to many factors, including, without limitation, our extremely competitive industry; volatility in financial and credit markets which could affect our ability to obtain debt and/or lease financing or to raise funds through debt or equity issuances; increases in fuel prices, maintenance costs and interest rates; our ability to implement our growth strategy, including the ability to operate reliably the EMBRAER 190 aircraft and our new terminal at JFK; our significant fixed obligations; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel and maintain our culture as we grow; our reliance on high daily aircraft utilization; our dependence on the New York metropolitan market and the effect of increased congestion in this market; our reliance on automated systems and technology; our being subject to potential unionization; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers; changes in or additional government regulation; changes in our industry due to other airlines' financial condition; a continuance of the economic recessionary conditions in the U.S. or a further economic downturn leading to a continuing or accelerated decrease in demand for domestic and business air travel; and external geopolitical events and conditions. Further information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the Company's 2008 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Current Reports on Form 8-K filed on June 1, 2009 and August 26, 2009, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

SOURCE JetBlue Airways Corporation