Like many companies emerging from the back end of the worst economy in decades, Virgin America’s preliminary operational results for December and the full year 2013 were a mixed bag.

The San Francisco-based carrier reported results on Jan. 10 and showed a strong month in December compared to December of 2012. Year-over-year, however, was flat.

Revenue Passenger Miles for December 2013 came in at 858 million miles, up 7.1 percent from the same month a year ago. Also up: Passenger Load Factor in December of 2013 was up 6 percent from a year ago, and the company estimates its December 2013 Passenger Revenue Per Available Seat Mile (PRASM) to have increased between 10 and 11 percent, compared with December 2012.

Available Seat Miles were down slightly, 0.8%, in December 2013 from December 2012.

Year-over-year was projected to be flat.

Virgin America anticipates Revenue Passenger Miles to be down 1 percent from 2012, dropping from 9.91 billion to 9.84 billion miles. Available Seat Miles were expected to be down 2.2 percent, from 12.5 billion to 12.2. However, Passenger Load Factor should be up 1 percent from 2012 and PRASM is expected to be up 1.8 percent.

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