CHICAGO (Reuters) – US Airways Group posted a quarterly loss on Thursday, hurt by soaring fuel costs that have battered the airline industry.
The low-cost airline’s fourth-quarter loss amounted to $79 million,or 87 cents per share, compared with a profit of $12 million, or 13cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, the company said its loss was 45 cents pershare. On that basis, analysts’ average forecast was a loss of 83 centsper share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Operating revenue fell 0.4 percent to $2.78 billion. The airline’s fuel bill jumped 27 percent $730 million.
One-time items included a $99 million increase to long-termdisability obligations for pilots, merger-related expenses of $15million, and a $59 million non-cash credit for unrealized net gainsassociated the company’s fuel hedge.
US Airways ended the quarter with $3 billion in cash and investments.
(Reporting by Kyle Peterson; editing by John Wallace)
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