JetBlue Airways reports second-quarter loss of $450 million

July 28 (UPI) -- JetBlue Airways lost $450 million in the second quarter as a result of depressed demand for air travel worldwide in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the carrier said Tuesday.

In its earning report, JetBlue said the amount was a pre-tax loss. Excluding one-time items, the adjusted loss is $754 million.

The loss is a sharp turnaround from the $179 million profit JetBlue reported for the second quarter of 2019.

Revenues were down about 90% year-to-year to $215 million while passenger traffic was down by 94%, the airline noted.

JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes warned that revenue is expected to fall in the third quarter, when the daily cash burn will be between $7 and $9 million.

JetBlue has reduced capacity by 85% and cut costs by more than $900 million to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

"In the past two months, we made progress in reducing our cash burn, and have been quick to resize our operations to the very dynamic demand environment," Hayes said in a statement. "While demand has improved materially from the lows we saw in April, bookings remain choppy, and we remain focused on addressing changing trends as we progress through the summer."

American and Southwest last week reported second-quarter losses totaling $3 billion, and Delta reported a $7 billion loss earlier this month. United reported a loss of $1.6 billion.

The International Air Transport Association said Tuesday demand has shown signs of recovery since April. Industry-wide revenue per passenger fell by 87% in June after a 91% decline the month before, IATA said.

IATA said surveys last month showed that more than half of passengers said they don't plan to travel by plane for the rest of the year.