Hawaiian Airlines’ profit reaches new height

Carrying a record number of passengers resulted in record revenue and profit for Hawaii’s largest airline last year.

The parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, Hawaiian Holdings Inc., reported Monday earning $364 million, or $6.82 a share, in 2017.

Company President and CEO Mark Dunkerley called it an “extremely strong year” where the airline added new routes and carried more passengers amid record Hawaii tourism.

A year earlier Hawaiian earned $235.4 million, or $4.36 a share, though these dramatically lower figures were affected by about $110 million in special costs that included a $70 million charge to retire older planes and $34 million to settle pilot union labor negotiations.

“We carried more guests this year than ever before and set new records for fourth quarter and full-year revenue,” Dunkerley said in a statement, referring to 2017.

Revenue rose 10 percent to $2.7 billion last year from $2.45 billion the year before.

Dunkerley, who previously announced he is stepping down March 1 to spend more time with family and friends, is being replaced by Chief Commercial Officer Peter Ingram.

For just the fourth quarter, revenue totaled $687 million, up 8.5 percent from $633 million in the same quarter the year before. Fourth-quarter profit was $172.1 million. That compared with $1.9 million a year earlier when earnings were hurt by special expenses.

Hawaiian carried 11.5 million passengers last year, up 4.1 percent over 11.1 million passengers the year before.

Fuel prices rose last year, but Dunkerley said that was offset by service growth and robust passenger demand.

Some of the route growth Hawaiian achieved in 2017 included a new seasonal summer service between Oakland, Calif., and Lihue, and extending a summer service to year-round service between Los Angeles and Lihue. Daily round-trip service also started between Lihue and Kona, and between Kapalua, Maui, and both Honolulu and Kahului.

Hawaiian’s stock closed at $37.50 Monday before the earnings report was released. Shares of the company’s stock over the last 52 weeks have closed between $59.35 on June 7 and $32.85 on Nov. 9.