Aircraft lessor Atlas Air Worldwide has increased its outlook for the year as revenues and net profits rose during the first quarter of 2018.
During the quarter, the company registered a 24.1% year-on-year improvement in revenues to $590m, operating income increased 68.8% to $40.6m and net income reached $9.6m compared with a $752,000 loss last year.
This improvement comes on the back of a 21% increase in demand to 66,495 block hours.
Atlas’ ACMI business saw first-quarter revenues increase 16.9% to $266m while block hours increased by 28% to 49,862, reflecting increased B767 flying for Amazon, the start up of B747-400F flying for several new customers and the re-deployment of B747-8F from charter into ACMI.
Atlas now has 13 aircraft placed with Amazon, with all 20 expected to be in position by the end of the year.
Its charter business, meanwhile, saw first quarter revenues increase by 16.9% to 285m, with block hours up 1.7% to 16,060.
Performance in this area of the business was primarily driven by an increase in yields and higher aircraft utilisation, partially offset by the redeployment of 747-8 aircraft to the ACMI segment.
In dry leasing, higher segment contribution primarily reflected the placement of additional B767-300 converted freighter aircraft and the placement of a B777-200 freighter in February 2018.
The company also today announced the expansion of its contract with DHL Global Forwarding as the forwarder launched a second round-the-world flight utilising an Atlas aircraft.
Atlas Air Worldwide chief executive William Flynn said: “Our volumes and revenue grew by more than 20% in the first quarter.
“Our focus on express, e-commerce and fast-growing global markets has broadened our customer base and fleet. We are growing across all of our fleet types. We are operating in a strong airfreight environment and growing global economy.
“Our recent placement of a second B747-400 ACMI freighter with DHL Global Forwarding (DGF), the world’s largest airfreight forwarding company, underscores how well-positioned we are to capitalize on market dynamics to serve our customers.
“This second aircraft for DGF adds further controlled capacity on growing trade lanes where it expects demand volumes to continue to exceed capacity.
“With the demand we are seeing for our aircraft and services, we now expect our revenue to exceed $2.5bn in 2018. And we anticipate our full-year adjusted net income will grow by a low- to mid-30% level compared with 2017, up from our prior outlook of mid-20% growth.”
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