Air Pacific announces annual profit

Airline Industry Information, June 1, 2005

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Fiji's national airline, Air Pacific, announced on Tuesday (31 May) a record pretax profit for the fiscal year ending 31 March.

The airline said it recorded a pretax profit of USD21.1m, as compared to USD20.5m in the previous fiscal year.

Profit after tax was USD14.4m, almost the same as for 2003-2004, and revenue was USD238m, an increase of USD12.6m compared to the previous year, reported The Associated Press.

Traffic from Australian and New Zealand markets increased by 22% in the year, but traffic from Japan, the United States and Canada continued to be "unsatisfactory", while traffic from the British and European markets had fallen for the first time in five years, said the airline.

The carrier warned that high fuel prices and other factors, such as competition from low-cost airlines, will mean considerably weaker results for the current financial year.

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