Go! airlines trims its losses

— -- Hawaii interisland carrier go! narrowed its losses during the latest quarter, benefiting from lower fuel costs and improved load factors.

The company's Phoenix-based parent, Mesa Air Group, said yesterday that go! had an operating loss of $3.5 million during the three months ending June 30, which was down from an operating loss of $7.4 million in the year-earlier quarter.

The loss came on revenues of $8.7 million, which was down from $15.6 million in the year-earlier quarter.

"It's mostly lower fuel prices, but we're also running more efficiently," said Jonathan Ornstein, Mesa's CEO.

The revenue comparison with the year-earlier quarter is skewed by the March 31, 2008, shutdown of Aloha. The shutdown contributed to a 150% increase in go!'s operating revenues during fiscal third quarter 2008.

Ornstein said the local carrier benefited from lower aviation fuel prices. Jet fuel prices dropped from a high of more than $4 a gallon in June 2008 to the $1.40 to $1.80 a gallon range in June 2009.

The airline also benefited from improvements in its scheduling.

During the first six months this year, go!'s jets flew nearly 66% full, which was about 2 percentage points better than the year-earlier period.

Meanwhile, parent company Mesa reported a slight decline in its fiscal third-quarter profit.

The company said it earned $1.7 million on revenues of $232.6 million during the three months ending June 30, 2009, which was off slightly from the year-earlier's net of $1.8 million and revenues of $353.9 million.

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