Sun Country Airlines Reports Third Quarter 2024 Results

Revenue of $249 million, highest third quarter on record⁽¹⁾
GAAP diluted EPS of $0.04, operating income of $12 million and margin of 5.0%
Adj. diluted EPS⁽²⁾ of $0.06, adjusted operating income⁽²⁾ of $14 million and margin of 5.6%

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sun Country Airlines Holdings, Inc. (“Sun Country Airlines,” “Sun Country,” the “Company”) (NASDAQ: SNCY) today reported financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2024.

“Sun Country is pleased to report our ninth consecutive profitable quarter with GAAP EPS of $0.04 and adjusted EPS of $0.06⁽²⁾,” said Jude Bricker, Chief Executive Officer of Sun Country. “Despite the impact of the Crowdstrike outage and the hurricanes during the quarter, we delivered $249 million of total revenue, the highest third quarter on record for Sun Country. Robust growth in our charter and cargo businesses helped offset lower scheduled service revenue, demonstrating the effectiveness of our diversified business model. Additionally, our GAAP operating margin of 5.0% and adjusted operating margin of 5.6%⁽²⁾ exceeded the top end of our guidance range. While third quarter unit revenue was lower than last year, we began to see year-over-year favorability in fares booked in September, which has persisted into the fourth quarter. As always, we want to thank our employees for their hard work and dedication during a challenging operating period.”

For the quarter ended September 30, 2024, Sun Country reported net income of approximately $2 million and income before income tax of $3 million, on $249 million of revenue. Adjusted income before income tax⁽²⁾ for the quarter was approximately $4 million. GAAP operating income during the quarter was $12 million, while adjusted operating income⁽²⁾ was $14 million, and GAAP operating margin was 5.0% and adjusted operating margin⁽²⁾ was 5.6%_.  

“Our third quarter results reflect the continued earnings power of our diversified business model,” said Dave Davis, President and Chief Financial Officer. “Cargo revenue per block hour grew by 16.0% year-over-year while third quarter charter revenue easily exceeded charter block hour growth. This strength partially offset the weaker third quarter scheduled service demand environment that we experienced. We expect strength in these businesses to persist, while we also see improving trends in scheduled service unit revenue in the fourth quarter and into 2025. We continue to exhibit solid cost control as our GAAP operating expense grew 3.1% while total block hours grew 3.8% in the third quarter. Adjusted CASM⁽³⁾ grew by 3.7% year-over-year, largely driven by near-in reductions in scheduled service capacity. We have right-sized our scheduled service capacity to match current demand and we expect fourth quarter scheduled service ASMs to grow by slightly over 3% versus last year. We are preparing to take on additional cargo aircraft in 2025, and still expect the first aircraft to enter service in late March or early April 2025, allowing us to take full advantage of seasonally strong first quarter passenger demand.”

Notable Highlights

• Ninth consecutive profitable quarter and highest third quarter total revenue on record⁽¹⁾.
• Further extended the existing lease on one 737-800 aircraft Sun Country has on lease to an unaffiliated airline. This aircraft is now expected to redeliver to Sun Country in November 2025.
• Supported Major League Soccer by flying all 18 Liga MX teams home for 2024 Leagues Cup.
  

Capacity

System block hours flown during the third quarter of 2024 grew by 3.8% year-over-year. All of this growth was allocated to the passenger segment, resulting in a 5.8% increase in scheduled service ASMs and 1.7% increase in charter block hours. Scheduled service ASMs are expected to grow in the fourth quarter 2024 by slightly more than 3% over fourth quarter 2023. Cargo block hours declined in the third quarter by 3.6% year-over-year due to scheduled heavy maintenance events and the impact of the hurricanes on cargo operations in the Southeast.

Revenue

The domestic market continued to be impacted by overcapacity in the third quarter which pressured unit revenue. The Company reported total revenue of $249 million for the third quarter, which was 0.2% greater than the third quarter of 2023. Scheduled service TRASM⁽⁴⁾ of 10.42 cents decreased 11.1% year-over-year, while scheduled service ASMs increased 5.8%. The third quarter 2024 total fare per scheduled passenger of $141 was lower than third quarter 2023 by 7.8% as scheduled service passengers grew 2.0%. The Company’s third quarter charter service revenue was $51 million, an increase of 7.0% year-over-year despite charter block hour growth of only 1.7% and the impact of lower fuel cost reimbursements from our customers.

In the third quarter of 2024, cargo revenue was $29 million, an 11.9% increase versus the third quarter of 2023 on a 3.6% decline in cargo block hours. This improvement was primarily driven by the annual rate escalation which went into effect in mid-December 2023 and the beginning of the new Amazon contract rates which went into effect in June 2024.

Cost

Third quarter CASM fell 1.9% while adjusted CASM⁽³⁾ was up 3.7% year-over-year. Total GAAP operating expenses increased 3.1% year-over-year, primarily due to a 3.8% increase in total block hours. The top non-fuel expenses that grew faster than the level of flying included ground handling costs, which increased 23.3%, driven by a 5% increase in Passenger segment departures and rate increases at our outsourced ground stations. Landing fees and airport rent increased 14.5% due to the expiration of COVID assistance that airports had used to limit rate increases.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

Total liquidity⁽⁵⁾ was $165 million on September 30, 2024, while the Company’s net debt⁽⁶⁾ was $532 million.

Fleet

As of September 30, 2024, the Company had 44 aircraft in its passenger service fleet, operated 12 freighter aircraft in its cargo operation and had seven aircraft that are currently on lease to unaffiliated airlines.

Guidance for Fourth Quarter 2024

Conference Call & Webcast Details

Sun Country Airlines will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2024 results at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, October 31, 2024. A live broadcast of the conference call will be available via the investor relations section of Sun Country Airlines’ website at https://ir.suncountry.com/news-events/events-and-presentations. The online replay will be available on the same website approximately one hour after the call.

About Sun Country Airlines

Sun Country Airlines is a new breed of hybrid low-cost air carrier, whose mission is to connect guests to their favorite people and places, to create lifelong memories and transformative experiences. Sun Country dynamically deploys shared resources across our synergistic scheduled service, charter, and cargo businesses. Based in Minnesota, we focus on serving leisure and visiting friends and relatives (“VFR”) passengers and charter customers and providing cargo service to Amazon, with flights throughout the United States and to destinations in Mexico, Central America, Canada, and the Caribbean. For photos, b-roll and additional company information, visit https://www.stories.suncountry.com/multimedia.

End Notes

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected costs, prospects, plans, objectives of management, and expected market growth are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are relating to:

• our strategy, outlook and growth prospects;
• our operational and financial targets and dividend policy;
• general economic trends and trends in the industry and markets;
• potential repurchases of our common stock; and
• the competitive environment in which we operate.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements reflect our views with respect to future events as of the date of this press release and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or review publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. You should read this press release completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, or investments we may undertake. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements. Additional information concerning certain factors is contained in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Company’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We sometimes use information that is derived from the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, but that is not presented in accordance with GAAP. We believe these non-GAAP measures provide a meaningful comparison of our results to others in the airline industry and our prior year results. Investors should consider these non-GAAP financial measures in addition to, and not as a substitute for, our financial performance measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Further, our non-GAAP information may be different from the non-GAAP information provided by other companies. We believe certain charges included in our operating expenses on a GAAP basis make it difficult to compare our current period results to prior periods as well as future periods and guidance. The tables below show a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures used in this document to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted Operating Income Margin, Adjusted Income Before Income Tax, Adjusted Pre-tax Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Income per Share, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted Operating Income Margin, Adjusted Income Before Income Tax, Adjusted Pre-tax Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Income per share, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are non-GAAP measures included as supplemental disclosure because we believe they are useful indicators of our operating performance. Derivations of Operating Income and Net Income are well recognized performance measurements in the airline industry that are frequently used by our management, as well as by investors, securities analysts and other interested parties in comparing the operating performance of companies in our industry.

The measures described above have limitations as analytical tools. Some of the limitations applicable to these measures include: they do not reflect the impact of certain cash and non-cash charges resulting from matters we consider not to be indicative of our ongoing operations; and other companies in our industry may calculate these non-GAAP measures differently than we do, limiting each measure’s usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these limitations, the following non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP and may not be the same as or comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies due to the possible differences in the method of calculation and in the items being adjusted.

For the aforementioned reasons, Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted Operating Income Margin, Adjusted Income Before Income Tax, Adjusted Pre-tax Margin, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Income per Share, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin have significant limitations which affect their use as indicators of our profitability. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this information.

Adjusted CASM

Adjusted CASM is a non-GAAP measure derived from CASM by excluding fuel costs, costs related to our cargo operations, stock based compensation, depreciation and amortization recognized on certain assets that generate lease income, certain commissions and other costs of selling our vacations product from this measure as these costs are unrelated to our airline operations and improve comparability to our peers. Adjusted CASM is an important measure used by management and by our board of directors in assessing quarterly and annual cost performance. Adjusted CASM is also a measure commonly used by industry analysts and we believe it is an important metric by which they compare our airline to others in the industry, although other airlines may exclude certain other costs in their calculation of Adjusted CASM. The measure is also the subject of frequent questions from investors.

Adjusted CASM excludes fuel costs. By excluding volatile fuel costs that are outside of our control from our unit metrics, we believe that we have better visibility into the results of operations and our non-fuel cost initiatives. Our industry is highly competitive and is characterized by high fixed costs, so even a small reduction in non-fuel operating costs can lead to a significant improvement in operating results. In addition, we believe that all domestic carriers are similarly impacted by changes in jet fuel costs over the long run, so it is important for management and investors to understand the impact and trends in company-specific cost drivers, such as labor rates, aircraft and maintenance costs, and productivity, which are more controllable by management.

We have excluded costs related to the cargo operations and depreciation recognized on our aircraft and flight equipment held for operating lease as these operations do not create ASMs. We have entered into a series of aircraft-related transactions where we act as an aircraft lessor. As of September 30, 2024, we leased or subleased seven aircraft. Depreciation expense on these aircraft materially began during the three months ended June 30, 2023. Adjusted CASM further excludes other adjustments, as defined in the relevant reporting period, that are not representative of the ongoing costs necessary to our airline operations and may improve comparability between periods. We also exclude stock compensation expense when computing Adjusted CASM. The Company’s compensation strategy includes the use of stock-based compensation to attract and retain employees and executives and is principally aimed at aligning their interests with those of our stockholders and at long-term employee retention, rather than to motivate or reward operational performance for any particular period. Thus, stock-based compensation expense varies for reasons that are generally unrelated to operational decisions and performance in any period.

As derivations of Adjusted CASM are not determined in accordance with GAAP, such measures are susceptible to varying calculations and not all companies calculate the measures in the same manner. As a result, derivations of Adjusted CASM as presented may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Adjusted CASM should not be considered in isolation or as a replacement for CASM. For the aforementioned reasons, Adjusted CASM has significant limitations which affect its use as an indicator of our profitability. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this information.

This press release was published by a CLEAR® Verified individual.