Frontier Airlines lost $3.7 million during the fourth quarter ended March 31 as fuel prices continued to push up costs, the Denver company said. Frontier lost $23.4 million during its fiscal year, also in large part because of fuel costs.
Frontier paid an average of $1.53 per gallon of jet fuel from January to March, a 31 percent jump from $1.17 during the same period last year, chief financial officer Paul Tate said.
“If we had been paying last year’s prices, we would have had $11 million less in expenses, which would have put us into a net gain situation,” Tate said. “Fuel is a big driver on why we had a loss this quarter.”
The $3.7 million loss for the quarter, or 10 cents per share, included two one-time gains, Tate said.
Without those, the carrier lost $5.9 million, or 15 cents per share. Analysts had expected a 20-cents-per-share loss, Tate said.
During last year’s January- March quarter, Frontier lost $5.8 million, or 16 cents per share. For its last fiscal year, the company earned a profit of $12.6 million, or 36 cents a share.
