Hawaiian slumps to Q1 loss
Hawaiian Airlines suffered a heavy loss in the first quarter of 2013, as a rise in capacity and fuel costs hit the carrier’s bottom line.
The Honolulu-based airline, which is expanding rapidly in Asia, posted a net loss of US$17.1 million for the first three months of 2013, compared to a net profit of US$7.3m in the same period last year. While the company’s revenues surged 12.5% year-on-year to US$490.8m, this was outweighed by a 19.0% jump in operating expenses, which spiralled to US$502.7m. Most areas of expenditure rose, largely due to the airline’s recent fleet and route expansion, but the 24.4% jump in fuel expenses hit hardest. Fuel accounted for 35% of Hawaiian’s operating expenses during the quarter.
Mark Dunkerley, the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, called the results “disappointing but unsurprising”.
“Our performance was undermined by an extraordinary increase in total industry capacity between Hawaii and the US West Coast and in certain international markets during what is traditionally the weakest quarter of the year. However, good cost control… helped offset some of the impact during the period. Looking ahead, published schedules show capacity beginning to decline in the second half which should improve the operating environment,” Dunkerley said.
Hawaiian’s passenger traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles (RPM), climbed 21.9% year-on-year in Q1 2013, but this failed to match a 26.1% expansion of available seat capacity, causing average passenger load factors to dip 2.9 percentage points to 80.9%.
Hawaiian will continue its Asian expansion this summer however, with the launch of flights to Sendai in June and Taipei in July.