Aloha Airlines lost
$2.7M in January

The bankrupt carrier
files its financial report
18 days after a deadline

Aloha Airlines, which has sought expedited hearings to implement cost cuts as soon as possible, filed a monthly financial report yesterday for January that showed it had $28.8 million in cash at the end of the month.

Aloha's chief financial officer, Jim Clarke, said the money included funds restricted for refunding credit card payments, $5 million of pledged cash to secure a letter of credit issued by local banks, a $3 million loan that already has been used and the airline's unrestricted cash.

The airline had $36.4 million in revenue for the month and $38.1 million in expenses to end with an operating loss of about $1.7 million. The operating loss included $7.1 million spent for aviation fuel and $2.8 million for repairs and maintenance.

"Our revenues exceeded our expectations and we did better on maintenance cost than we had expected, so our net loss was well within our forecast," Clarke said.

Aloha, which didn't provide a comparable number for the same period a year ago, had a net loss of $2.7 million in January.

The Bankruptcy Court filing, which came 18 days after a deadline, did not show how much unrestricted cash the company had.

Aloha's chief executive, David Banmiller, has said that the airline lost about $24 million in 2004.

Airline attorneys will be in court today to get revised investor bidding procedures approved that will result in a cash infusion the company needs before the end of the month.