An Atlas Air 747 being loaded with cargo. (Photo: Atlas Air Worldwide, Inc.)
Whilst the passenger side of the airline industry continues to struggle due to COVID-19, cargo carriers have continued to see increased demand. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, the parent company of airlines such as Atlas Air and Southern Air announced a profit in their third-quarter results.
The New York-based holding company announced a net income of just over $74 million for the past quarter. Although this profit may seem small to profits normally turned by passenger airlines, it was an increase over the company’s profit in the third quarter in 2019. In the same quarter last year, the airline saw a profit of $60 million.
The airline saw third-quarter revenue of $809.9 million over 90,528 block hours of operation. Both of these numbers were up from 2019, in large part due to increased flying and the resumption of passenger charters. Atlas Air’s Boeing 747-400 passenger configured aircraft are often used on military and sports charters, including teams in the National Football League.
In a press release, Atlas Air Holdings CEO John W. Dietrich said, “The positive momentum of our business continued in the third quarter, despite a more complex, costly and challenging operating environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our performance is the result of our entire team pulling together to increase utilization of our aircraft and execute on strong market demand and higher yields.”
2020 has been a positive year for the airlines under Atlas Air Worldwide, with a nine-month net income of $176.3 million, up $49.2 million from the same point last year.
On top of increased income, the airline accepted three new additions to the fleet during the third quarter. Southern Air took delivery of three Boeing 737-800 Converted Freighters to operate for Amazon Air. The three new deliveries took the Southern’s fleet count to 17, including eight total 737s operating for Amazon. Atlas Air also operated 19 Boeing 767 freighters for Amazon Air.
On top of additional 737s for Southern Air, the airline expects to reactivate a parked Boeing 747 freighter in the next quarter as demand increases.
The extra demand caused by the holiday period around the world will also lead to potentially greater profits for the airline in the fourth quarter. Although this trend would not be anything new for Atlas Air Worldwide, the reduction of other cargo capacity could create an even greater increase in demand for dedicated cargo services.
The airline stated that they are anticipating a fourth-quarter revenue that is 25% larger than the third-quarter of this year.
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