Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowRepublic Airways Holdings Inc. late Wednesday reported higher revenue on improved performance of its Frontier Airlines service.
Fourth-quarter revenue increased 7.4 percent over the same period of 2010, to $697.8 million, primarily due to an 11-percent increase from the company's Frontier unit.
Indianapolis-based Republic, however, lost more than $123 million in the quarter, due to charges related to removing certain aircraft from flight operations. Republic took non-cash impairment charges of $191.1 million, or $4.5 million to $5 million per plane, to remove 42 ERJ aircraft it owns out of branded flight operations.
It also took a charge of $24 million to write off prepaid maintenance reserves related to the early termination of Airbus aircraft to its lessors.
When using generally accepted accounting principles, Republic Airways reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.55 per share, compared with a 3-cent loss in the same period in 2010.
Fuel costs rose to $164.4 million, a 27.3-percent per-gallon increase in price.
Republic flew 4 million passengers in the quarter, a 5.4-percent decrease from the same period in 2010.
For the year, Republic lost $151.8 million, or $3.14 per share, compared with $13.8 million, or 38 cents per share, in 2010. Revenue climbed 7.9 percent, to nearly $2.9 billion.
Republic shares rose 10 cents in early trading Thursday, to $5.41 per share.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.