Hawaiian Airlines Parent Reports Third Quarter Profit
By Sonia Isotov
Hawaiian Holdings, Inc., parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, Inc., today reported a profit of $25.6 million for the third-quarter 2011, compared to $39.3 million in the prior year period.
Mark Dunkerley, the company’s president and chief executive officer, commented in a corporate statement today that “the third quarter marked a return to some better results for our business. Strong demand in each of the major geographies we serve, continued cost control and some small-but-welcome easing of fuel prices all played a part. Particularly noteworthy has been the return of traffic on our services to Japan. Our results on these routes would qualify as good in any year, let alone the year in which an earthquake and tsunami took such a large human and economic toll.”
The company also reported a 55.2% increase in operating income to $60.9 million in the third quarter of 2011, compared with operating income of $39.3 million in the prior year period.
Third quarter 2011 operating revenue was $455.9 million, a 29.5% increase compared with the third quarter of 2010.
Capacity for the quarter increased 16.1% year-over-year to 3.2 billion available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in operating revenue per ASM (RASM) of 14.40 cents, up 11.7% from the third quarter a year ago.
Passenger yield (passenger revenue per revenue passenger mile) increased 16.9% to 15.32 cents while load factor declined 1.7 percentage points to 85.2%, resulting in an increase in passenger revenue per ASM (PRASM) of 14.6% to 13.05 cents.
Reflecting economic fuel expense, the company reported an adjusted net income of $30 million to adjusted net income of $28.5 million in the prior year period. Aircraft fuel costs in the third quarter increased 61.1% year-over-year to $136 million and represented 34.4% of operating expenses. Hawaiian’s average cost per gallon of jet fuel increased 40.9% year-over-year to $3.17 (including taxes and delivery).
“Despite the drumbeat of depressing news about consumer confidence, we have not seen a waning in forward bookings. If these bookings continue to hold and if the price of oil does not rise in the remaining months of 2011, we expect the second half of the year to look considerably better than the first half,” continued Dunkerley.