HONOLULU — Hawaiian Holdings, the parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, reported a net loss of $92.6 million in its fourth quarter, bringing its total to $144 million in non-adjusted losses for the year.
In the fourth quarter, the airline, one of Hawaii’s largest employers, reported operating expenses of $566 million and total revenue of $494 million, a 30% drop compared to the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of 2019. The airline said it had a 19% lower capacity.
For the full year, the airline reported an operating expense of $1.7 billion and revenue of $1.6 billion, down 44% compared to 2019, on 29% lower capacity.
But despite the negative posting, the figures reported Tuesday are an uptick from the previous year, and Hawaiian Airlines officials remain bullish on the future of the leisure and travel industry on the islands as they continue to weather the coronavirus pandemic storm.
“I remain optimistic about the trajectory of our recovery despite the uncertainty that continues to surround our industry,” said Peter Ingram, the president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, during the company’s earnings call Tuesday. “Yes, the path isn’t linear, and some of the progress on the international side is slow to the right. But we continue to make progress in 2022.”
“The trajectory of leisure travel has been interrupted by the pandemic, but the underlying desire for it has not,” added Ingram.
Like other airlines worldwide, since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, government travel restrictions, staffing challenges, and reluctance among people to travel have led to a severe drop in business and recreational tourism.
Because of the pandemic, Hawaiian Airlines has taken its fair share of lumps in the past couple of years.
After reporting strong financial results in 2019, Hawaiian Airlines posted half a billion dollars ($511 million) in losses the following year.
Things picked up in 2021 thanks to the reopening of Hawaii to domestic tourists through strict pre-travel testing in October 2020, followed by international tourists in the last quarter of 2021.
The airline launched four new routes in the year – Honolulu to Austin, Orlando and Ontario, and from Maui to Long Beach, California. The company also resumed international flights to French Polynesia, American Samoa and Sydney, Australia.
Non-passenger revenue was up because of cargo shipping and sign ups for the Hawaiian Airlines credit card, said Brent Overbeek, vice president of Revenue Management and Network Planning of Hawaiian Airlines.
Still, the highly transmissible omicron variant that surfaced in the fourth quarter took the wind out of the airline’s sails. The airline is at the mercy of foreign government travel policies, and domestically, bookings have dropped.
“With the omicron surge, we’re seeing some customers choose to stay at home, resulting in lower bookings,” said Overbeek during the earnings call.
However, Overbeek, looking ahead to the first quarter, said they’ve been monitoring bookings and found the worst of the omicron “impacts will be in the first quarter as we’re seeing upward momentum for bookings in the months ahead.”
Internationally, the airline plans to fly 25% of their international schedule from 2019 in the first quarter and position themselves until international borders open up.
Overbeek said they expect passenger capacity levels down 10-13% from 2019 in the first quarter. For the entire year, levels could range from down 3% to up 1% from pre-pandemic levels, they said.
“We’re encouraged that we’re on the road to recovery despite some temporary setbacks,” said Overbeek. “Domestically, we see an upward trajectory of our bookings as Omicron has had less of an impact on our business than prior variants. Internationally we are well-positioned, and we’ll be ready for recovery once international travel policy allows. We have a great product, a strong brand, an exceptional team, and a winning formula for success.”