Hawaiian loss Hawaiian Airlines posted a second-quarter loss of $31.1 million, or 92 cents a share, a huge downturn from the profit of $1.9 million, or 6 cents a share, the airline reported for the year-earlier quarter.
hits $31.1M
The airline blames charter
losses and costlier plane rentalsStar-Bulletin staff
The greater fuel efficiency of Hawaiian's new interisland fleet of Boeing 717-200 jets saved the company $7 million in fuel costs in the latest quarter, helped by lower fuel prices.
But the interisland fleet renewal and the ongoing replacement of its widebody DC-10s with Boeing 767-300ER aircraft cost the company $11 million more in leases than it was paying in the 2001 quarter.
Passenger revenues dropped 7.1 percent to $148 million in the latest quarter, from a year-earlier $159.3 million.
The drop came mainly from charter operations, where the loss of a Los Angeles-Tahiti service for Renaissance Cruises after the Sept. 11 disaster cost the airline $10 million in revenues.
Scheduled passenger services in Hawaiian's interisland, mainland-Hawaii and Hawaii-South Pacific services generated $124 million in second-quarter revenues, down 1.4 percent from $125.7 million in the second quarter of 2001.
Overall operating expenses were up 10.5 percent at $173.1 million in the latest quarter, from $156.7 million in the year-earlier period.
The biggest difference was in aircraft rentals, which more than doubled to $18.8 million from a year-earlier $7.8 million.
The result was an operating loss of $25.1 million, compared to an operating profit of $2.6 million in the year-earlier quarter.
John W. Adams, chairman, chief executive officer and president, said demand for travel, which dropped after the Sept. 11 hijacking crashes, remains lower than year-earlier levels and Hawaiian's second-quarter results reflect the lingering after-effects felt by the whole airline industry.
He said Hawaiian's focus now is on better matching of capacity with demand and increasing the yield from its flights.
