Hawaiian Airlines reports $162M loss amid 79% drop in revenue
Hawaii’s largest airline finished what it called the most challenging year for the air travel industry with a $162.6 million loss during the last three months of 2020.
Hawaiian Airlines said in a financial report released today that the fourth-quarter loss compared with a $49.7 million profit in the same quarter the year before.
Revenue for the carrier was down 79% to $149.7 million in the recent quarter compared with $708.1 million a year earlier.
For all of 2020 during which passenger travel was severely depressed by the coronavirus pandemic, Hawaiian lost $510.9 million on revenue of $844.8 million. In 2019, Hawaiian earned $224 million on revenue of $2.8 billion.
The airline, which operates under the publicly traded holding company Hawaiian Holdings Inc., said negative impacts of COVID-19 will make the start of this year challenging. Yet company leaders are confident that structural pieces are in place for a sustained recovery.
“While 2020 has been the most challenging year the airline industry has experienced, we are encouraged that the re-opening of Hawaii to tourism through the state’s pre-travel testing program and Hawaiian’s successful testing partnerships have allowed us to begin the journey to recovery” Peter Ingram, company president and CEO, said in a statement.