Hawaiian Airlines Reports March and First Quarter 2019 Traffic Statistics, and Updates Expected First Quarter 2019 Metrics

News provided by

Apr 08, 2019, 16:01 ET

HONOLULU, April 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawaiian Airlines, Inc., a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA) ("Hawaiian" or the "Company"), today announced its system-wide traffic statistics for the month and quarter ended March 31, 2019. The Company also updated its expectations for certain first quarter 2019 financial metrics.

Hawaiian welcomed more than 993,000 guests in March 2019. Total traffic (revenue passenger miles) increased 0.2 percent on an increase of 0.3 percent in capacity (available seat miles) compared to March 2018. Load factor decreased 0.1 points to 86.4 percent.

The table below summarizes March and year-to-date statistics compared to the respective prior-year periods.

SYSTEM-WIDE OPERATIONS¹

MARCH	2019	2018	% CHANGE
PAX	993,548	1,018,741	(2.5%)
RPMs (000)	1,439,227	1,436,004	0.2%
ASMs (000)	1,665,067	1,659,260	0.3%
LF	86.4%	86.5%	(0.1) pts

YEAR-TO-DATE	2019	2018	% CHANGE
PAX	2,822,634	2,891,522	(2.4%)
RPMS (000)	4,128,485	4,030,783	2.4%
ASMS (000)	4,851,921	4,731,498	2.5%
LF	85.1%	85.2%	(0.1) pts

PAX	Passengers transported
RPM	Revenue Passenger Mile; one paying passenger transported one mile
ASM	Available Seat Mile; one seat transported one mile
LF	Load Factor; percentage of seating capacity filled

¹Includes the operations of contract carriers under capacity purchase agreements.

First Quarter 2019 Outlook

The Company has revised certain of its expectations for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 that were previously provided in its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Earnings Release on January 29, 2019.

Specifically, the Company:

narrowed its estimates for operating revenue per ASM; and
lowered its estimates for operating costs per ASM excluding fuel primarily due to lower than expected expenses related to its Neighbor Island freighter operation.

The table below summarizes the Company's revised expectations for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 expressed as an expected percentage change compared to the results for the quarter ended March 31, 2018.

Item	Prior First Quarter 2019 Guidance	Revised First Quarter 2019 Guidance	GAAP Equivalent	Prior GAAP First Quarter 2019 Guidance	Revised GAAP First Quarter 2019 Guidance
Operating revenue per available seat mile (ASM)	Down 3.0 – 6.0%	Down 3.0 – 5.0%
Cost per ASM (CASM) excluding aircraft fuel (a)	Up 1.0 – 4.0%	Up 0.5 – 2.5%	Cost per ASM (a)	Down 3.8 – 7.1%	Down 4.8 – 7.7%


(a)	See Table 1 for a reconciliation of GAAP operating expenses to operating expenses excluding aircraft fuel.

Non-GAAP Financial Reconciliation

Table 1.
Operating Costs per Available Seat Mile (CASM)
(in thousands, except CASM data) (unaudited)

	Estimated three months ended March 31, 2019
GAAP operating expenses	$	595,664		to	$	614,147
Less: aircraft fuel, including taxes and delivery		(121,212)		to		(130,253)
Adjusted operating expenses - excluding aircraft fuel	$	474,452		to	$	483,894
Available Seat Miles		4,851,921		to		4,851,921
CASM – GAAP		12.28	¢	to		12.66	¢
Less: aircraft fuel, including taxes and delivery		(2.50)		to		(2.68)
CASM - excluding aircraft fuel		9.78	¢	To		9.98	¢

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect the Company's current views with respect to certain current and future events and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company's expectations regarding operating revenue per available seat mile, cost per available seat mile, and cost per available seat mile excluding fuel for the quarter ended March 31, 2019; and statements as to other matters that do not relate strictly to historical facts or statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," variations of such words, and similar expressions are also intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to the Company's operations and business environment, all of which may cause the Company's actual results to be materially different from any future results, expressed or implied, in these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the Company's ability to accurately forecast quarterly results; economic volatility; macroeconomic developments; political developments; the price and availability of aircraft fuel; fluctuations in demand for transportation in the markets in which the Company operates, including due to the occurrence of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis; the Company's dependence on tourist travel; labor negotiations and related developments; competitive pressures, including the impact of rising industry capacity between North America and Hawai'i; the Company's ability to continue to generate sufficient cash flow to support the payment of a quarterly dividend; changes in the Company's future capital needs; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; and the Company's ability to implement its growth strategy.

The risks, uncertainties and assumptions referred to above that could cause the Company's results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements also include the risks, uncertainties and assumptions discussed from time to time in the Company's other public filings and public announcements, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that may be filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to the Company on the date hereof. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date hereof even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied herein will not be realized.

About Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian® has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 15 years (2004-2018) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Consumer surveys by Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and TripAdvisor have placed Hawaiian among the top of all domestic airlines serving Hawai'i.

Now in its 90th year of continuous service, Hawaiian is Hawaii's biggest and longest-serving airline. Hawaiian offers non-stop service to Hawai'i from more U.S. gateway cities (13) than any other airline, along with service from Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa and Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides, on average, more than 170 jet flights daily between the Hawaiian Islands, and over 260 daily flights system-wide.

Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA). Additional information is available at HawaiianAirlines.com. Follow Hawaiian's Twitter updates (@HawaiianAir), become a fan on Facebook (Hawaiian Airlines), and follow us on Instagram (hawaiianairlines). For career postings and updates, follow Hawaiian's LinkedIn page.

For media inquiries, please visit Hawaiian Airlines' online newsroom.

SOURCE Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.