Atlas Air Dips Into Red In First Quarter

Atlas Air Worldwide edged into the red in its first quarter, posting a net loss of USD$752,000.

A loss on financial instruments of $5.2 million related to outstanding warrants was the primary cause of the Q1 loss, Atlas said. The parent of cargo carriers Atlas Air, Polar Air Cargo and Southern Air made a small $471,000 net profit in last year’s first quarter.

Operating revenue for the quarter to end March was up 13.6 percent at $475.4 million, as expenses reached $451.4 million, a 13.2 percent increase on 1Q16. Resulting operating income was $24 million, up from $20 million last year.

“We are off to an exciting start in 2017,” chief executive William Flynn said. “We will have a full year of contribution from Southern Air and expect a positive impact on our full-year results from our service for Amazon.

Atlas acquired cargo carrier Southern Air last year for $110 million. It also agreed a deal with Amazon to supply 20 Boeing 767s for its Amazon Prime air freight service.

During the quarter, Atlas placed two of its Boeing 747 freighters with Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific on an ACMI (wet lease) basis.

“In addition to Cathay Pacific, we have recently announced other significant new customer agreements with Asiana Cargo, Nippon Cargo Airlines and FedEx that will all contribute to earnings growth this year,” Flynn said.

Atlas continues to expect adjusted net income from continuing operations to increase by a mid-single to low-double digit percentage compared to 2016 adjusted income of $114.3 million.