Financial Instruments and Risk Management

As part of the Company’s risk management program, the Company from time to time uses a variety of financial instruments, primarily costless collar contracts, to reduce its exposure to fluctuations in the price of jet fuel. The Company does not hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading purposes.

The Company is exposed to credit losses in the event of nonperformance by counterparties to these financial instruments. The Company periodically reviews and seeks to mitigate exposure to the counterparty’s financial deterioration and nonperformance by monitoring the absolute exposure levels, the counterparty’s credit rating, and the counterparty’s historical performance relating to hedge transactions. The credit exposure related to these financial instruments is limited to the fair value of contracts in a net receivable position at the reporting date. The Company also maintains security agreements that require the Company to post collateral if the value of selected instruments falls below specified mark-to-market thresholds. To mitigate this requirement, the Company ratably builds its hedge portfolio to targeted levels to avoid excess exposure to specific market conditions.

The Company records financial derivative instruments at fair value, which includes an evaluation of the counterparty’s credit risk. Fair value of the instruments is determined using standard option valuation models. Management chose not to elect hedge accounting on any of the derivative instruments purchased through the end of 2011, 2010, and 2009 and, as a result, changes in the fair value of these fuel hedge contracts are recorded each period in aircraft fuel expense.

The following table summarizes the components of aircraft fuel expense for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2011			2010			2009

Into-plane fuel cost	$	392.3		$	251.7		$	181.8
Changes in value and settlements of fuel hedge contracts	(4.2		)	(3.5		)	(0.7		)
Aircraft fuel expense	$	388.1		$	248.2		$	181.1

During the year ended 2011, $4.2 million of net fuel derivative gains were recognized consisting of realized gains of $7.4 million offset by unrealized mark-to-market losses of $3.2 million. During the year ended 2010, $3.5 million of net fuel derivative gains were recognized consisting of settlement gains of $1.4 million and unrealized mark-to-market gains of $2.1 million. During the year ended 2009, $0.7 million of net fuel derivative gains were recognized consisting of realized losses of $0.7 million and unrealized mark-to-market gains of $1.4 million. All realized gains and losses are reflected in the statements of cash flows in cash flow from operating activities.

As of December 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company had fuel hedges using US Gulf Coast jet fuel as the underlying commodity. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had agreements in place to protect 13,450,000 gallons or approximately 9% of its 2012 anticipated fuel consumption at a weighted-average ceiling and floor price of $2.99 and $2.81 per gallon, respectively. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had agreements in place to protect 11,800,000 gallons or approximately 10% of its 2011 anticipated fuel consumption at a weighted-average ceiling and floor price of $2.30 and $2.13 per gallon, respectively.