But Load Factor Drops Noticeably
On Tuesday, Mesa Air Group's interisland subsidiary go! reported
preliminary passenger traffic figures for November 2008, and noted
it achieved 55,591 passenger enplanements, a 1.27% increase over
the 54,895 passengers carried in the prior November.
Last month, go! generated 12.74 million available seat miles and
8.14 million revenue passenger miles, versus 11.25 million
available seat miles and 7.93 million revenue passenger miles in
November 2007.
However, the news wasn't so rosy on a per-seat basis. go!'s load
factor for November 2008 was 63.86%... compared to 70.43% for the
same period in 2007, meaning more planes were flying with fewer
seats filled.The airline also recorded an on-time performance rate
of 81.93% -- an admirable figure, but off-pace for on-time
performance among other Hawaiian carriers, given the relative lack
of inclement weather conditions.
"We are encouraged by the increase
in passengers we experienced year over year in spite of the current
economic downturn. We are very appreciative of the support of our
passengers through these difficult times," said Mesa Air Group
Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein. "Advance bookings remain above
last year's numbers and our recent settlement of our lawsuit with
Aloha has given us another reason to be optimistic."
As ANN reported, Mesa recently reach a
settlement with the former controlling shareholder of Aloha
Airlines, concerning a lawsuit stemming from Mesa's alleged
wrongdoing over pricing. That settlement -- reached with Yucaipa
Companies, the controlling shareholder in now-defunct Aloha --
included provisions to allow Mesa to rebrand go! as Aloha.
That controversial stipulation has since been temporarily halted
by a federal bankruptcy court judge, however... who said both sides
need to examine the wisdom and sensitivity of such a move, given
the role go! had in driving the 61-year-old carrier out of
business.
On Tuesday, Ornstein and go! VP Paul Skellon each pleaded his
case to allow the name change to go forward.
"As part of the agreement to license the Aloha name, Mesa will
offer significant travel benefits to the former employees of Aloha
Airlines," Ornstein said. "Each former Aloha employee will receive
six space available roundtrip passes per year. At today's ticket
prices this benefit is worth approximately $2 million a year and
$20 million over the life of the licensing agreement. In addition
we have recently signed a new ground handling contract worth
approximately $6 million a year with Pacific Air Cargo, new owner
of Aloha Contract Services, formerly a division of Aloha
Airlines."
"The word 'Aloha' uniquely represents Hawaii throughout the
world and by promoting it internationally we will add valuable
support for inbound tourism, the economic lifeblood of Hawaii,"
added Skellon. "Aloha is a name dear to all of us and we at go!
would love to see it as a symbol of great service, the lowest fares
and affordable inter-island travel for everyone."