Aloha loses Aloha Airlines fourth-quarter revenues increased 28 percent, cutting its loss for the quarter nearly in half from a year earlier, according to its latest financial filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
$2.3 million
in quarter
A 28 percent jump in
By Russ Lynch
revenues can't offset high fuel
prices and expansion costs
Star-Bulletin
The airline lost $2.3 million in the final quarter of 2000, compared to a net loss of $4.4 million in the previous fourth quarter.
For all of 2000, Aloha lost $4.3 million on revenues of $283 million, while the airline's operations changed dramatically. In 1999, Aloha lost $1.8 million on revenues of $234 million.
"I'm never happy to talk about a loss, no matter how small," said Glenn Zander, Aloha's president and chief executive officer. "But the good news obviously is that we did manage to lose less money in the fourth quarter," compared to the year-earlier period, he said.
"Aloha is a pretty thrifty company" and cut its expenses because it had to, after fuel prices climbed during the year to a peak of close to $1.20 a gallon, Zander said.
"When you have fuel go to $1.20 you better tighten your belt and we did, tight," he said. During the fourth quarter of 1999, fuel was as low as 67 cents a gallon, the airline said.
In the last quarter of 1999, interisland business was down because of a fall-off in Japanese travel and Y2K worries that kept some travelers at home. By the fourth quarter of 2000, the airline's new Honolulu-Oakland, Maui-Oakland and Oakland-Las Vegas services were in full swing. It had none of those in the 1999 period.
The airline's yearlong expansion helped boost revenues to $71.6 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to $56 million in revenues for the fourth quarter of 1999.
But the new routes also increased expenses, including costs for leasing two Boeing 737-700 planes. Aloha had operating costs of $75 million in the fourth quarter, up 18.7 percent from expenses of $63.2 million in the final quarter of 1999.
Fourth-quarter fuel expenses alone rose 70 percent, to $13.6 million from $8 million in 1999.
However, the airline last year began passing on extra fuel costs in its interisland fares and that, along with other efficiencies and the addition of its mainland routes, produced a better fourth-quarter.
"We had Oakland running. We had the infusion of revenues, which helped," Zander said. "As the year progressed we had imposed various levels of fuel surcharges and saw the effects coming in the fourth quarter of 2000."
In that quarter, Aloha also had its first daytime all-freight interisland service operating, which helped the bottom line, he said. "The good news is that we're growing our revenues" from diversification through the new long-haul services.
This year, after the reporting period, Aloha expanded its mainland services to include Oakland-Kona flights. Next month, Aloha will add flights into Orange County, near Disneyland, and it also has new Honolulu-Kwajalein service.
"You will continue to see pretty dramatic improvements in our revenues," Zander said.
This year has brought more changes at Aloha, including the leasing of two more 737-700s, the addition of four flights a week between Kona and Oakland and plans for Hawaii-Orange County service.
Soon the airline will have five 737-700s in long-haul service, Zander said.
As a privately held company, Aloha, part of Aloha AirGroup Inc., does not have public stockholders to whom it must report but, like other airlines, it has to post data of its financial fitness with federal authorities and that information is publicly accessible. The figures do not include the operations of its smaller sister airline, Island Air, which flies from Honolulu to Hawaii's smaller airports.