ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AirTran Holdings, Inc., , the parent company of ... AirTran Holdings Reports R
ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AirTran Holdings, Inc., , the parent company of AirTran Airways, Inc., today reported a net loss of $0.2 million for the third quarter 2005 and net income of $3.1 million or $0.03 per diluted share year to date. This compares to net loss of $9.8 million or $0.11 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2004 and net income of $11.1 million or $0.12 per share for 2004 year to date.
Joe Leonard, chairman and chief executive officer said, "AirTran Airways set new records during the third quarter carrying 4.4 million customers and increasing our load factor over six points to 76.3%. Coupled with capacity growth of 31.1%, our third quarter revenue performance was truly gratifying, particularly given the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."
AirTran Airways also set a new revenue record of $374.6 million, up 52.5% over the prior year. Commenting on the third quarter, Robert L. Fornaro, president and chief operating officer said, "The combination of a 6.9% increase in yield and the strong load factors led to the double digit increase in unit revenues of 16.4%." Fornaro went on to say, "Our crew members performed tirelessly to serve the record numbers of customers and deserve credit for our record setting performance."
Non-fuel unit costs declined 2.9% year over year while operating costs including fuel rose 10.5% to 9.56 cents. Stan Gadek, senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer, said, "While we continued to drive down non-fuel costs, the increasing price of fuel more than offset our effort. Through conservation, hedging and technology we managed to offset some, but not all of the increased energy costs."
- Closed on new financing for aircraft pre-delivery deposits and purchase financing for 2006 and 2007 aircraft deliveries. - Announced the opening of two new cities, Cancun and Detroit. - Announced new service to Minneapolis-St Paul and Boston from Chicago Midway. - Added two Boeing 737 aircraft to our fleet, increasing our fleet to 99 aircraft. - Began installation of winglets on our Boeing 737 aircraft. - Initiated non-stop service to Las Vegas from Akron-Canton and Flint. - Announced the ratification of a contract agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for our aircraft mechanics and inspectors. - Expanded XM Radio service to 61 aircraft.
AirTran Holdings, Inc., will conduct a conference call to discuss quarterly results today at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. A live broadcast of the conference call will be available via the internet at http://www.airtran.com/.
AirTran Airways, one of America's largest low-fare airlines with 6,700 friendly, professional Crew Members, operates over 500 daily flights to 49 destinations. The airline's hub is at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where it is the second largest carrier. AirTran Airways recently added the fuel-efficient Boeing 737-700 aircraft to create America's youngest all-Boeing fleet. The airline is also the first carrier to install XM Satellite Radio on a commercial aircraft. For reservations or more information, visit http://airtran.com/ (America Online Keyword: AirTran).
Editor's note: Statements regarding the Company's operational and financial success, business model, expectation about future success, improved operational performance and our ability to maintain or improve our low costs are forward-looking statements and are not historical facts. Instead, they are estimates or projections involving numerous risks or uncertainties, including but not limited to, consumer demand and acceptance of services offered by the Company, the Company's ability to maintain current cost levels, fare levels and actions by competitors, regulatory matters and general economic conditions. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004. The Company disclaims any obligation or duty to update or correct any of its forward-looking statements.
Pursuant to Regulation G of the Securities and Exchange Commission, we are providing further disclosure of the reconciliation of reported non-GAAP financial measures to their comparable financial measures reported on a basis consistent with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Our disclosure of earnings(loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), operating costs (CASM), non-fuel operating cost (Non- fuel CASM) and fuel price neutral cost per available seat mile (Fuel price neutral CASM), are believed to be consistent with financial measures reported by other airlines and are comparable to financial measures required in our submission to the United States Department of Transportation.
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