Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings reports first quarter net income of $7.9 million, places two Boeing 747-8F freighters with DHL

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo) (New York) reported first quarter net income of $7.9 million, down 60.4 percent from the same quarter a year ago

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings is the parent company of Atlas Air and Titan Aviation Leasing and majority owner of Polar Air Cargo.

The company issued this full statement:

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. announced adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders of $11.3 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2014, compared with $5.9 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2013.

On a reported basis, net income attributable to common stockholders in the first quarter of 2014 totaled $7.9 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, compared with $20.1 million, or $0.76 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Adjusted earnings in the first quarter of 2014 exclude a special charge of $3.4 million after tax, or $0.13 per diluted share, mainly related to the company’s U.K. affiliate, Global Supply Systems Limited. Adjusted earnings in the first quarter of 2013 exclude an income tax benefit of $14.2 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, related to the tax treatment of extraterritorial income.

“2014 is off to a good start, led by the initiatives we’ve undertaken to diversify our business mix, expand our aircraft and service offerings, develop new customers and position Atlas to take advantage of market opportunities,” said William J. Flynn, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“Within our ACMI segment, results benefited from an increase in the number of new 747-8 freighters in operation as well as an increase in flying for our CMI customers. In Dry Leasing, the investments we’ve made since early 2013 in attractive, modern 777 freighters on long-term leases with strong customers drove a significant increase in contribution from sources with highly predictable revenue and earnings streams.

“In addition, the expansion of our 767 aircraft service solutions and our growth into passenger charter operations supported the improvement in our results despite a seasonally soft contribution in Commercial Charter and the continued reduction in AMC Charter cargo volumes.

“Reflecting our global market leadership in outsourced aircraft assets and services, we have developed several new strategic customer relationships since the first quarter of 2013 that have enhanced the resilience of our business model.

“In ACMI, these include Astral Aviation, BST Logistics and Chapman Freeborn. We’ve also expanded with Etihad Airways, introduced new 767 cargo CMI service for DHL Express, and added VIP 767 passenger CMI service for MLW Air. And in Dry Leasing, we now provide 777Fs to Aerologic, Emirates Airlines and TNT Transport International.”

Separately, the company announced the placement of two 747-8 freighters in ACMI service for DHL Express. The state-of-the-art aircraft will provide additional revenue cargo volume for DHL’s transpacific network growth. They replace two 747-400 freighters currently in service for DHL that will enter immediate revenue service for Atlas.

Outlook

We are encouraged by our first-quarter performance and the positive direction of market trends so far in 2014, but we are maintaining our earnings outlook for the full year.

Airfreight volumes are improving, and recent forecasts suggest that airfreight demand will grow by a few percentage points in 2014 – the first real growth after three essentially flat years. Forecast airfreight yields continue to lag behind, however.

With still limited visibility into second-half airfreight market demand and yields, we continue to expect results in 2014 to approximate 2013, excluding an expected decline in our AMC Charter operations as we have previously discussed.

On a per share basis, earnings in the second quarter of this year should be similar to or slightly higher than our adjusted first-quarter earnings. As the majority of our earnings are typically generated in the second half of the year, we expect to update our expectations as the year progresses.

For the full year, we expect total block hours to be a few percentage points lower than 2013 block hours, with more than 70% in ACMI, less than 10% in AMC Charter, and the balance in Commercial Charter. Our Dry Leasing segment should show dramatic growth, with a contribution run rate in subsequent quarters that should be similar to the first quarter of 2014. Aircraft maintenance expense in 2014 should total approximately $175 to $180 million, and depreciation should be approximately $115 to $120 million. In addition, we anticipate an effective income tax rate of approximately 30%.

We remain confident in the resilience of our business model and our ability to leverage the scale and efficiencies in our operations. The business initiatives we have undertaken and the investments we have made have transformed the company to deliver meaningful earnings in any environment.

Should 2014 be the inflection point when growth returns to commercial airfreight and yields improve, our business initiatives and the investments we have made have positioned Atlas to be one of the prime beneficiaries.

Copyright Photo: Manuel Negrerie/AirlinersGallery.com. Atlas Air also operates the Boeing 767-300F freighter for DHL. Boeing 767-3JHF ER N643GT (msn 37809) arrives at Taipei (Taoyuan).

DHL-Atlas Air: