US Airways said Tuesday that its first-quarter loss more than doubled to $114 million as fuel prices rose sharply.
Fuel costs jumped by $200 million, up almost 39 percent from a year earlier. US Airways is the only U.S. airline that does not hedge against fuel price spikes.
It has been raising fares to make up for higher fuel prices. And the demand is there – traffic rose 4 percent from the same period last year. Those two things helped push revenue up 11.7 percent to $2.96 billion.
The loss amounted to 71 cents per share. It would have been 68 cents per share if not for special items. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a slightly larger loss of 73 cents per share on revenue of $2.94 billion.
A year ago, the airline lost $45 million, or 28 cents per share. Not counting fuel, its costs for each seat flown one mile fell by 1.3 percent.
US Airways Group Inc., based in Tempe, Ariz., is the nation’s fifth-largest airline.
Its shares rose 23 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $8.51 in morning trading.
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