The airline said a 4.8 percent drop in the number of westbound visitors through the quarter and a 27.3 percent rise in average fuel costs caused the loss.
Hawaiian had a net loss of $3.9 million in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $124,000 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenues of $93.2 million were up slightly from $92.6 million in the 1995 quarter.
The net result included a one-time gain of $426,000 because Hawaiian was able to pay off a debt to American Airlines ahead of schedule, but expenses soared by more than $7 million.
Excluding the special gain, the airline had an operating loss in the latest quarter of $6.1 million, compared with an operating profit of $659,000 in the year-earlier period. Hawaiian had reported operating profits in each of the six preceding quarters.
"While conditions have improved somewhat in the first quarter, continuing softness in travel demand and high fuel prices are expected to also impact first quarter 1997 results," said Bruce R. Nobles, president and chief executive officer.
"However, the impact of these market forces on the fourth quarter should not overshadow what Hawaiian accomplished in 1996," he said. Nobles said Hawaiian had a full-year operating profit of $2 million, a turnaround from an operating loss of $1.9 million in 1995. It was the airline's first operating profit in 10 years.
Still, the airline's bottom line shows a net loss of $5.1 million last year compared with a net loss of $5.5. million in 1995. Full-year revenues of $384.5 million last year were up 10.8 percent from $346.9 million in 1995.
Honolulu stock analyst Richard Dole of Fry & Co. said much of Hawaiian's red ink appears to stem from industrywide factors beyond its control, such as fuel expenses.
Dole expects the airline to report a greater first-quarter loss this year than the $582,000 loss it had last year.
One positive note, according to Dole, was in market share. For 1996, the company said its share of the interisland market, while still lagging behind Aloha Airlines, has increased by one percentage point and that its share of the West Coast-Hawaii market rose to 22 percent.
Today's report follows last week's news that Nobles, 50, has resigned effective March 31. He will be replaced by Paul J. Casey, a former executive of Pan American World Airways and Continental Airlines, who is leaving his position of president of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau.