Air Pacific Posts Profit for First Time in 3 Years

Air Pacific Boeing 747

Air Pacific, the national airline of Fiji, has posted a return to profit for the first time in three years, with its financial results for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2012.

Despite a challenging aviation market over the last 12 months, Air Pacific Ltd. and Air Pacific Group both reported operating profits combined with a significant increase in passenger numbers and revenue.

On a net basis, Air Pacific Ltd. reported an after tax statutory profit of $11.4m ($24.8m for last fiscal year), and Air Pacific Group reported an after tax statutory profit of $10.7m ($25.3m for last fiscal year).

A focus on increasing passenger numbers, improvements to its network and achieving significant efficiencies across the airline saw Air Pacific also record its highest ever revenue of $645.9m, an increase of $90.5m in passenger revenue over FY2010/2011 and an increase of $130m compared to FY2009/2010. Without any increase in the size of the airline’s fleet, the carrier increased passenger numbers by 85,000 for the fiscal year 2011/2012, and carried 122,000 more passengers compared to FY2009/2010.

Mr. Nalin Patel, Chairman of Air Pacific’s Board of Directors, attributed the airline’s continued financial improvement and successful turnaround to the transformation measures put in place by Air Pacific’s new MD/CEO Dave Pflieger, his new management team, and Air Pacific’s dedicated and hard-working employees.

“The fact that we managed to return the airline to an operating profit only two years after we experienced the biggest loss in our history speaks volumes about the experience and capability of our new management team and the soundness of their turnaround plan. The strong, positive results during a time when other airlines were struggling validates the Board’s decision to hire Dave and support his new team’s seasoned strategic focus,” Mr. Patel said.

“Under the new team’s direction and with full support of the Board, Fiji’s national airline has benefited from a more than $100m improvement in its operating performance over the past two years – a remarkable feat when one considers the challenges the industry and our own airline were facing.” Air Pacific Ltd. announced an operating profit of $16.5m for this fiscal year, compared to an operating loss of $91.8m two years ago and an operating loss of $3.7m last year.

The latest initiatives in the turnaround strategy include the recent announcement that Air Pacific will re-brand and revert to its former name ‘Fiji Airways’, coinciding with the delivery of brand-new Airbus A330-200 aircraft in 2013.

Air Pacific

Image: Flickr [contri]