S&P views Hawaiian Holdings negatively

S&P said it changed its outlook for Hawaiian Holdings Inc. to negative from stable and affirmed its B- issuer rating.

“We believe various challenges will continue to hamper Hawaiian's ability to improve profitability and cash flow generation through 2024. Over the last two years, demand for travel to and from Japan, which is Hawaiian's largest international market, has remained well below pre-pandemic levels despite Japan withdrawing its travel restrictions in 2022. Although the average daily passenger count to Hawaii from Japan has gradually improved over the last few quarters, as of October 2023, the count was still only about 50%-55% of levels in October 2019,” S&P said in a press release.

However, “Domestic travel demand to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland was very strong through 2022 and the first half of 2023, somewhat offsetting the weakness in the international and inter-island segments. However, the Maui wildfires in early August resulted in weaker yields, particularly on the Maui routes, which previously accounted for about 22% of Hawaiian's system revenues,” the agency said.

S&P said it sees Hawaiian’s credit metrics remaining “relatively weak through 2024.”

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.