DUBAI: Air Arabia, the United Arab Emirates' only publicly-listed airline, reported its third consecutive quarterly profit drop on Sunday, as fuel hedges taken out at higher oil prices continued to hurt results despite a jump in passenger numbers.
It made a net profit of 59 million dirhams ($16.1 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, down 13 percent from the 68 million made a year earlier, said the budget airline, which launched 23 new routes and its fourth hub in Jordan during 2015.
Analysts at SICO Bahrain had estimated the airline would make a fourth-quarter net profit of 79.3 million dirhams - a figure attributable to shareholders. Air Arabia's previous year's figure did not match Thomson Reuters net attributable figure, however, indicating separate calculations.
Air Arabia passenger figures jumped 17 percent year-on-year in the quarter to 2 million and revenue rose to 957 million dirhams, from 924 million dirhams in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The drop in profit was due to pressure on yields and hedges made at much higher fuel prices. Brent Crude fell about 23 percent in the fourth quarter alone and is down 70 percent from its June 2014 peak.
"The impact of low oil prices continues to have its effect on the wider global economy, while pressure on yields and geo-political uncertainty continued to weigh on the aviation industry," Air Arabia's Chairman Abdullah al-Thani said in a statement.
Chief executive Adel Ali said in September the impact on earnings from fuel hedging was likely to continue for the next two quarters but he was comfortable with hedging policies for 2016.
The carrier's board of directors proposed a 2015 dividend of 0.09 dirhams per share, in line with the 2014 dividend.
Air Arabia's annual profit was 531 million dirhams, down from 566 million dirhams in 2014.
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