NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — US Airways Group Inc. posted a first-quarter net loss of $103 million as the recession crimped travel demand, while JetBlue Airways Corp. reported a profit of $12 million on lower fuel costs. Both beat analysts' estimates.

The results by US Airways, the sixth-largest US airline, pushed first-quarter operating losses to $2 billion for the domestic industry's NINE biggest carriers. The combined loss was narrower than the $2.3 billion estimate by Michael Derchin, an FTN Equity Capital Markets Corp. analyst in New York.

Airlines slashed fares in an effort to lure travellers who curbed spending as the economy slowed. The carriers benefited from a 52 percent drop in jet fuel's average price from a year earlier, and said the falloff in travel may be abating.

"The revenue environment does seem to have bottomed out," US Airways President Scott Kirby said today on a conference call with analysts and investors. "It doesn't seem to be getting worse, but it's not getting better."

US Airways said its loss excluding costs for advance- purchase fuel contracts was $260 million, or $2.28 a share. That was narrower than the $2.33 average of 9 analysts' estimates on that basis compiled by Bloomberg.

JetBlue's profit excluding costs to reduce the value of auction-rate securities was $20 million, or eight cents a share, more than the three-cent average estimate from 11 analysts.

US Airways' per-share net loss of 90 cents narrowed from $237 million, or $2.58 a share, a year earlier. Sales declined 14 percent to $2.46 billion, the Tempe, Arizona-based company said in a statement.

JetBlue's net income was five cents a share, compared with a net loss of $10 million, or five cents, a year earlier. Sales fell 2.9 percent to $793 million, the New York-based discount airline said in a statement.

The profit was JetBlue's first for the period in five years, and the company said it expects to continue making money in each quarter of 2009. The airline paid 31 percent less for fuel in the first quarter than a year earlier, pushing total operating expenses down 9.9 percent.