US Airways Posts 4Q Loss

The airline operator posted a loss of $79 million, or 87 cents per share, compared with a profit of $12 million, or 13 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue edged lower to $2.78 million from $2.79 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a loss of 76 cents per share on revenue of $2.82 billion, on average.

US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker said the carrier's earnings were materially affected by high fuel costs.

"As we begin 2008, our industry appears to be headed for another difficult period due to extremely high oil prices and a potentially softening economy," Parker said in a statement.

US Airways' costs for fuel and related taxes surged 26.9 percent to $730 million during the quarter as oil prices touched new highs.

The carrier's mainline traffic fell 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter as it trimmed capacity 4.6 percent.

US Airways has revamped its flight schedules and fixed a glitch-prone reservations system that made it one of the worst airlines in on-time performance last year. In November, it posted its best on-time performance of the year.

During the quarter US Airways recalled 200 furloughed flight attendents. It also added seven more Airbus A330-200s in the quarter to an existing order for widebody jets. The aircraft will be used to support the carrier's plans to grow its international service.

For the full year, US Airways' profit rose 40.6 percent to $427 million, or $4.52 per share, from $304 million, or $3.33 per share. Revenue climbed 1.2 percent to $11.7 billion from $11.56 billion.