Virgin America's Monthly Load Factor Declines As Traffic Slips

Virgin America Inc. reported on Tuesday that May load factor fell to 84.2% from 84.5% in the same period a year ago, as a result of a decline in traffic. Capacity was little changed at 1.07 billion available seat miles, while traffic slipped 0.3% to 898.98 million revenue passenger miles. Meanwhile, the number of onboard passengers increased 4.2%. The stock fell 1.7% in morning trade, but pared earlier losses of as much as 3.4% to an intraday low of $27.17. The intraday low was the lowest price seen since the stock began trading publicly on Nov. 14, 2014. The stock has now lost 36% year to date, while the NYSE Arca Airline index has shed 13% and the S&P 500 has gained 1%.