US Airways Optimistic Amid '08 Loss

In an SEC filing, the company said it has about 46% of fourth-quarter fuel consumption hedged and that its restricted cash balance includes $159 million related to letters of credit collateralizing parties in fuel hedging transactions. Additionally, the carrier said it has reduced its estimate of cargo and other revenue, but continues to expect that fees added during the past year will generate about $400 million to $500 million annually.

Also Wednesday, Delta(DAL Quote) reported record December load factors of 80.1% for the entire Delta system, 82.3% for December and 81.9% for Northwest, JetBlue(JBLU Quote) said revenue passenger miles declined by 1.8% on a capacity decline of 5.1%.

Earlier, Continental(CAL Quote) reported December RASM growth of 3.5% to 4.5%, ahead of several analysts' expectations