BWIA tailspins into $4m loss By NADINE HOSEIN (Trinidad Guardian April 23, 2002) After starting the year in a solid position, BWIA West Indies Airways hit a tailspin to end 2001 with a net loss of $4.3 million. In 2000, the airline made a profit of $7.3 million, but the events of September 11 crushed its hopes of making a higher profit for the following year. This was announced in its financial statements yesterday. For the better part of 2001, the company was well on its way to making a profit. In August, it announced an unaudited profit of $57 million. However, the fallout of the terrorist attacks prompted a slowdown in flights, disrupted schedules and led to aircraft being taken out of service. This scenario erased BWIA's profits as the airline tumbled into the red by the end of the fourth quarter. Chairman Lawrence Duprey stated in his report that after August 31, the company took a hard hit resulting in a loss of $4.3 million, after tax. "After eight months of operations in 2001, by August 31, the unaudited profit stood at $57 million. Then the events of September 11 shook the world and the bright prospects turned dark and uncertain," said Duprey. He said the entire airline industry was vastly affected with 100,000 employees being laid off in the US alone. Although BWIA's total assets of $1.1 billion equalled its total liabilities for 2001, which on the surface is a break-even position, the accounts showed that its current assets were lower than the current liabilities. Current liabilities stood at $613 million and the current assets amounted to $514 million. Ironically, the airline posted a lower debt compared to $732 million in 2000. But its assets also slipped from $519 million that year. The company made an operating revenue of $1.69 billion for last year, a small increase from 2000's $1.6 billion. Scheduled passengers accounted for $1.5 billion of this sum, with the remaining balance shared between cargo and mail and incidentals. But the airline's expenses which stood at $1.7 billion outweighed the revenue which resulted in an operating loss of $16.4 million. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBSC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeansocabrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Gail's Restaurant) http://www.trinbagoinfo.com/gail/ (Gail's Restaurant) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************