Regional Contribution Drops at Frontier

Horizon’s Frontier feeder operations contributed $19,110,000 during the quarter, down from $22,992,000 in the year-ago period. Regional passenger revenues were up for the year to $94,164,000 compared to $92,826,000 in fiscal 2006. Regional partner operating expenses reached $24.6 million in the quarter, down from $27.2 million in the year-ago period while, for the year, they rose from 106.8 million in fiscal 2006 to $108.3 million in fiscal 2007.
Horizon’s nine CRJs which are now being returned to its native network, carried 179,000 passengers during the quarter down from 217,000 in the year-ago period. For the fiscal year, regionals carried 899,000 passengers compared to 912,000 in fiscal 2006. Revenue passenger miles dropped from 149.5 million to 118.7 million for the quarter and from 591.7 million to 576.4 million for the year. Available seat miles were also down from 213.0 million in the year-ago quarter to 180.6 million during the fiscal fourth quarter. For the year ASMs dropped from 821.2 million to 799.9 million. Passenger load factor for the quarter was down to 65.7 percent compared to 70.1 percent in the year-ago quarter but remained level at 72.1 percent for the year.
Passenger yield per RPM increased to 16.09 cents from 15.38 cents in the quarter and increased for the year from 15.69 cents to 16.34 cents. Yield per ASM dropped slighted from 10.79 cents in the year-ago quarter to 10.58 cents in the fourth quarter but rose from 11.20 cents in fiscal 2006 to 11.77 in the current fiscal year. CASM increased to 13.66 cents during the fourth quarter, compared to 12.81 cents in the year-ago period and also rose in the year-over-year period from 13.01 cents to 13.55 cents.