Hawaiian Airlines’ earnings were grounded in the fourth quarter by $95.1 million in special items.
The state’s largest carrier saw its net income tumble nearly 72 percent.
Hawaiian Holdings Inc., the corporate parent, reported Tuesday that earnings fell to $10.6 million, or 20 cents a share, from $37.9 million, or 66 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. If the special items are removed from the calculation, Hawaiian’s earnings per share climb to $1.28, which matches what analysts had estimated.
“2016 has been a great year for us in almost every dimension,” Hawaiian President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said on the company’s earnings conference call. “Strong demand, balanced industry capacity in our markets and manageable fuel prices have characterized our business environment. Our team is taking good advantage of the circumstance, making sure that the investments we made in our business over the past several years continue to deliver the returns we anticipated from them.”
| FOURTH-QUARTER NET
$10.6 million
YEAR-EARLIER NET
$37.9 million
|
For the year, net income rose 33.7 percent to $244.1 million from $182.6 million. Hawaiian transported a record 11.1 million passengers last year.
Revenue rose 10.2 percent to $633 million for the quarter and was up 5.7 percent to $2.45 billion for the year.
The special items that affected Hawaiian’s earnings included a $70 million charge related to the airline’s long-term fleet strategy to dispose of its Boeing 767s early and replace them with A321neos; $20 million related to settling the ongoing labor contract negotiations with its pilots union; and a $5 million profit-sharing payment to employees for their service in prior years.
Dunkerley said 2017 will be a year of investment as Hawaiian will complete a new maintenance hangar; complete the bulk of the A330 cabin reconfiguration, which adds lie-flat seats and increases the number of extra-comfort seats; and enhance the company’s technology infrastructure.
But it all won’t be smooth flying as Hawaiian will be affected on at least three fronts:
New aircraft
The A321neo narrow-body aircraft it had been expecting was delayed three months by manufacturer Airbus and won’t be delivered until a couple of weeks before Christmas, “all but ruling out our prior plan to have them in service before our busy winter peak,” Dunkerley said. “The delay impacts our projected ASM (available seat mile) growth for the year and of course the revenues we’d anticipated in the fourth quarter. … In the viewpoint of an aircraft that we’ll likely operate for 20-plus years, a three-month delay is irritating, but it doesn’t in any way fundamentally undermine our confidence in the airplane or our excitement about getting it.”
Pilots contract
The company’s pilots, who have threatened to strike and have seen other airlines reward their pilots with attractive deals, have been negotiating for nearly two years.
Dunkerley said the company wants to “achieve an agreement as quickly as possible. I don’t think we believe we benefit from being sort of hung out there waiting for us to get a result.”
Neighbor island competition
Resurgent Island Air is phasing in a new fleet of Q400 aircraft and adding capacity in an interisland market dominated by Hawaiian, which will add to its capacity by putting two additional Boeing 717s into service in February and March, respectively.
“We are going to remain competitive both from a cost perspective, from a price perspective and from a schedule perspective,” Dunkerley said. “And where it’s appropriate, we will be increasing services to make sure that statement remains true as we see how Island Air develops in the market.”
Hawaiian’s stock closed up $1.05, or 2 percent, at $54.95. The earnings were announced after the market closed.
