AirCal Quarter Profit Fails to Offset ’86 Loss

AirCal on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profits of $4.6 million, but they weren’t sufficient to offset previous losses during the year and the Newport Beach-based regional airline ended 1986 with a loss of $1.6 million.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the company had revenues of $103.8 million, up 36% from the $76.3 million recorded the year before. In the final period of 1985, the company lost $4.8 million.

For the full year, the company’s revenues were $375.4 million, up 9% from the prior year’s $344.5 million. In 1985, the company earned $9.3 million.

Although the airline operated profitably in the final months of the year, intense competition and fare-slashing in the first quarter of the year caused the company to suffer losses of $7.4 million.

In November, American Airlines announced plans to buy AirCal for $225 million in a deal that would give American some needed West Coast routes. The acquisition is awaiting final approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

AirCal officials said Thursday that if the approval is given shortly, the 1986 financial results released Thursday would be the last from AirCal as an independent company. However, they said that if the approval takes many more weeks, the company would be making another report following the conclusion of its first quarter March 31.