Hawaiian Airlines
loses $3 million

Hawaiian Airlines, closing in on a January reorganization hearing that could push it out of a nearly 2-year-old bankruptcy, saw its once-strong financial tailwind continue to lose power in November.

A 72 percent jump in fuel costs from a year earlier sent the company to a $3 million operating loss that marked its third down month in a row. A year ago, Hawaiian had its best November ever with an operating gain of $4.2 million.

Revenue edged up 3.7 percent to $58.6 million from $56.5 million a year ago.

"The fact that Hawaiian has now had three consecutive months of operating losses after recording 17 straight months of operating profits shows just how much the industry is changing and how we need to adjust accordingly," Hawaiian Airlines trustee Joshua Gotbaum said.

Hawaiian's streak of 17 monthly operating gains in a row came to an end in September, when the airline had an operating loss of $2 million. The airline had an operating loss of $169,000 in October.

Fuel costs jumped to $14.2 million in November from $8.3 million a year earlier while labor costs rose 23.8 percent to $20.8 million from $16.8 million. Operating expenses increased 15.7 percent to $61.6 million from $53.2 million.

Hawaiian, which is required to file monthly operating reports with federal Bankruptcy Court, had a net loss in November of $2.9 million compared with a net gain of $4 million a year ago.

The airline saw its unrestricted cash rise to $118.9 million last month from $116.1 million at the start of November. The airline had $87.7 million at the beginning of the year.

Hawaiian filled 87.4 percent of its seats last month, up 2.8 percentage points from a year ago. Capacity, as measured by available seat miles, was 3.2 percentage points greater than in November 2003.