Discount airline JetBlue Airways Corp. said Wednesday that the string of hurricanes to hit the U.S. and Caribbean in September weighed on third-quarter earnings and will continue to have an impact in the fourth quarter. The carrier said September traffic fell 4.4% from the year-earlier period, as capacity fell 0.9%. The company’s load factor was 80.2%, down 3 points from a year ago. Third-quarter revenue per available seat mile is expected to increase by about 0.9%. “The third quarter presented unprecedented weather challenges for JetBlue, with two of the largest hurricanes in our history impacting our network,” Chief Executive Robin Hayes said in a statement. He said he was confident “that the adjustments we are making to our network will minimize any ongoing financial impact in 2018.” JetBlue is expecting hurricanes Irma and Maria to shave about $44 million off third-quarter revenue and reduce adjusted EPS by 6 cents to 7 cents. For the fourth quarter, the hit is estimated at about $70 million to $90 million of revenue and 10 cents to 13 cents of adjusted EPS. Shares rose 0.8% premarket, but are down 10% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained about 14%.
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