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Monday, May 17, 2004

Briefs

  • Republic Airways last week filed its prospectus to sell at least 5 million shares as it goes public. The effective date of the initial public offering has not been set. The holding company for Chautauqua Airlines and Republic Airlines hopes to sell the stock for about $16 per share. The company will use the proceeds, an estimated $67.2 million, to pay off a $21.6 million loan from its major shareholder, WexAir, and the balance to fund general corporate purposes, including the purchase of additional aircraft (CRAN, April 12).
  • Despite a decline in its core business, a diversifying AirNet Services [ANS] posted a net profit of $316,000 on sales of $40.5 million in the first quarter. A year ago, it earned $297,000 on sales of $37.1 million. Bank services revenues declined 1.9 percent to $25.8 million in the first quarter. A year ago, this key sector generated $26.3 million in sales. Express service sales increased by 19.8 percent to $10.8 million. Its passenger charter service doubled its receipts to $3.7 million.
  • MAIR Holdings [MAIR] posted a $3.5 million loss, or 17 cents per share, on revenue of $102.2 million in the quarter ending March 31. A year ago, the Minneapolis-based parent of Mesaba Aviation and Big Sky Transportation reported a loss $901,000, or 4 cents per share, on revenue of $112 million. MAIR closed its fiscal year on March 31 with a net profit of $4.6 million, or 23 cents per share, on revenue of $449 million. Its profits were up 7.9 percent from fiscal 2003's $4.3 million. The company said the grounding of five Avro 85s by Northwest Airlines [NWAC] and the cancellation of 624 flights during pilot negotiations contributed to the 8.8 percent slide in revenues during the final quarter. Mesaba's revenue per available seat mile (RASM) declined 3.8 percent in the period ending in March to 15.1 cents. The costs per available seat mile (CASM) at Mesaba declined slightly to 15.7 cents. Big Sky's RASM grew by 23.7 percent to 23.5 cents. Its CASM also increase sharply by 10.2 percent to 30.3 cents.
  • The parent company of Chicago Express, ATA Holdings [ATAH]posted a first quarter loss of $64.7 million, or $5.47 per share, on revenue of $387.3 million. A year ago, it posted a loss of $11.4 million, or 97 cents per share. The company attributed the loss to a one-time accounting change associated with a debt refinancing the carrier did last fall to improve its liquidity. The firm does not break out detailed performance numbers on its regional unit. The load factor on the 17 Saab 340 planes used by Chicago Express dipped slightly to 59.6 percent from 60.3 percent.
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