Hawaiian Airlines stock takes off after strong earnings report

NEW YORK » Shares of Hawaiian Airlines’ parent rose sharply today after the carrier made bullish comments about travel demand.

The stock rallied a day after Hawaiian reported that its fourth-quarter net income rose to $37.9 million from $11.1 million in the same quarter of 2014.

Excluding one-time items, the company said it would have earned 85 cents per share, a penny better than the forecast of eight analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue was roughly flat at $574.2 million, but spending on fuel tumbled 41 percent, a savings of $62.4 million from a year earlier.

In a conference call with investors after the market closed Tuesday, CEO Mark Dunkerley said Hawaiian didn’t experience the kind of temporary slump that some airlines saw in traffic to Europe after the Paris terror attacks in November.

“We are not seeing demand weakness of any kind,” he said.

The airline carries tourists from Asia and the U.S. West Coast to Hawaii.

Hawaiian predicted that revenue for every seat flown one mile would be flat in the first quarter. Several larger airlines expect the closely watched figure to fall because of lower average fares.

Shares of Hawaiian Holdings Inc. closed up $3.45, or 10.66 percent, to $35.80. The shares began the day down 8 percent in 2016. The shares hit $37.58 before falling at the close.