Frontier Airlines Holdings has filed its Quarterly Report with the Securities Exchange Commission for the quarter ending in December 2008. The company reported a consolidated operating profit of $5.6 million and a net profit of $1.1 million. Excluding special items, the operating profit was $14.3 million and the net profit $7.6 million for the quarter.
The special items for the quarter included: non-cash mark-to-market losses on fuel hedge contracts of $8.7 million; charges of $0.4 million on early extinguishment of debt; gain of $2.7 million in reorganisation activities, including $8.1 million on the sale of four A319 aircraft; and expenses of $5.4 million.
Frontier's cash position increased to $69.1 million for the period ending December 2008. The company realised net proceeds of $44.1 million from the sale of four aircraft during the quarter, which was offset by a decrease in working capital due to the traditionally low booking period at the end of the year.
"These results truly buck the industry trends right now," said Frontier president and CEO Sean Menke. "This is also a testament to the sacrifices and hard work put forth by all of our employees. Despite significant competitive pressure and other economic factors, we have been able to reduce our operating expenses, increase revenues and maintain our high quality of service."
Financial and restructuring highlights during the quarter include: for the quarter, mainline unit costs, excluding fuel and a post-retirement curtailment gain in 2007, decreased 4.3% to 6.21 cents, despite a 16.0% reduction in mainline capacity, a 7.9% reduction in stage length and an average fleet utilisation decrease of 7.2%; for the quarter year-over-year, mainline passenger unit revenue increased by 7.2%, and total mainline unit revenue increased by 10.2%; load factor for the quarter improved by 3.9 percentage points versus the prior year period; negotiated and secured long-term concessionary agreements with all represented labour groups; launched AirFairs, an innovative, customer-friendly fare structure designed to let customers choose from one of three fare levels that best meets their specific travel needs; being among the industry-leaders in key DOT performance metrics.
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