US Airways Group Inc., struggling to cope with soaring fuel costs, reported a first-quarter loss yesterday of $191 million despite a 26 percent reduction in labor costs from a year earlier.
The loss, which equals $3.48 a share, compares with a net loss of $177 million, or $3.28 a share, in the 2004 first quarter. The airline said it had an operating loss of $201 million, compared with a $143 million operating loss a year earlier.
The airline, which has more than 60 percent of the traffic at Philadelphia International Airport, said its revenue declined modestly, to $1.6 billion from $1.7 billion, mostly because of declining ticket prices brought on by low-cost competitors.
US Airways said in a statement that it paid an average of $1.47 a gallon for aircraft fuel in the first quarter, 48 percent more than a year ago. If fuel costs are taken out of the equation, the airline's operating costs would have been down 15.6 percent, to 8.46 cents for every airplane seat it flies one mile, the company said.
Major U.S. airlines have reported more than $2 billion in first-quarter losses, primarily because of higher fuel costs.
Labor costs for US Airways were $477 million in the quarter, compared with $641 million a year earlier. Since US Airways filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 12, its unionized employees have agreed to new contracts that reduced many workers' wages and benefits by about 25 percent.
President and chief executive officer Bruce R. Lakefield said in a statement that US Airways' cost reductions have minimized the effect of fuel prices and lower fares, "but we find ourselves in the same position as most of the industry, where fuel costs cannot be fully recovered through traffic growth and incremental fare increases."
The company said that, as of March 31, it had $513 million in cash available. It had an additional $766 million in cash it cannot spend because it is collateral under the company's loan agreement with the federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board.
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