Hawaiian’s profitable year
The airline's operating income rises
for the ninth consecutive month
Hawaiian Airlines, capping off a tumultuous year that resulted in its top executive being ousted and the company filing for bankruptcy, posted its ninth consecutive month of operating profits to end 2003 with $77.5 million in operating income.
But the company, which filed its required monthly operating report yesterday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, for the first time did not include its year-to-date numbers as it had in previous filings.
"The numbers are very preliminary and unaudited and will change," Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner said. "It sort of makes comparisons to the previous year's information irrelevant."
The airline, which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy on March 21, had operating income of $13.5 million in December and net income of $11.7 million, which included $2.2 million for reorganization items. The net income gain reduced the company's year-to-date loss to $31.8 million, which includes $110.4 million in reorganization expenses and a one-time $17.5 million Emergency Wartime Act special credit.
Hawaiian also had revenues of $68.9 million to bring its full-year total revenues to $704.5 million. In 2002, Hawaiian lost $58.3 million, with a net operating loss of $56.1 million, on revenues of $632 million.
Wagner declined to comment on the results and said that trustee Joshua Gotbaum, who was appointed July 3, and Mark Dunkerley, the president and chief operating officer, also wouldn't offer comments because of the preliminary nature of the numbers.
"December is different than the other months because it's a year-ending month," Wagner said. "Typically, that's when all the adjustments are made."
Hawaiian cautioned in a news release yesterday against "placing undue reliance" on the monthly information and said that full-year adjustments are expected to affect, among other things, the company's pension, reorganization, and income and tax-related accounts.
Wagner said the airline has typically announced its audited year-end results in March.
In another development, Hawaiian said yesterday it would be adding a second daily nonstop flight between Seattle and Honolulu starting on March 1.
The new flight will depart Seattle at 11:05 a.m. and arrive in Honolulu at 3:20 p.m. The return flight will depart Honolulu at 4 p.m. and arrive in Seattle at 11:30 p.m.
Hawaiian, which also offers daily nonstop flights between Seattle and Maui, has been offering nonstop flights between Seattle and Honolulu since 1986. Hawaiian, which has been restructuring aircraft leases and making other cost-cutting moves, showed in yesterday's filing that it ended last year with unrestricted cash of $90 million, up from $82.5 million at the beginning of the month and $71.9 million at the start of the year.
"There's a lot of negotiations that have to happen and everything is subject to negotiations, but the company hopes to emerge from reorganization by Labor Day," Wagner said.