DENVER—Frontier Airlines lost $16.5 million in April after it filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a monthly report filed in U.S. bankruptcy court.
The carrier’s net loss from April 11-30 was more than half the $32.5 million it lost in its fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31, it reported Wednesday.
Denver-based Frontier did not issue results for the quarter ending March 31 because it filed for bankruptcy protection less than two weeks after the quarter ended.
Frontier’s unrestricted cash balance, including equivalents and short-term investments, fell 36 percent to $108.3 million from the end of December through April. Frontier attributed most of the decline to investments in capital expansion projects, loan payments and a $50 million reclassification of unrestricted cash to restricted cash related to an increase in credit card holdbacks.
“They’re going to have to get some financing at some point,” said Evergreen aviation consultant Mike Boyd.
New York-based aviation consultant Bob Mann said the results might not be as bad as they seem.
Frontier jettisoned a contract with regional carrier Republic Airways that cost the company millions of dollars in April, and a recent sale of four planes will boost cash by $37.5 million.
Frontier had $91.7 million in restricted cash at the end of April that is dedicated to specific obligations, but Mann said Frontier potentially could try to free up some of that cash.
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Information from: Rocky Mountain News,
