Hawaiian Air CEO On How Decline In Oil Prices Have Impacted The Airline

While oil prices are down, it seems no one is profiting from it the way Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. HA is performing. Stock of the company is up nearly 40 percent in the last three months and is trading at its all-time highs.

Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian Air President and CEO, on Wednesday was on CNBC to discuss how oil prices have impacted his company and the prospects for the airline sector in 2015.

“No, it’s not all energy prices. Energy prices help in a really big way, for us every $0.01 change in the price of a gallon of gas is $2.4 million to our bottom-line. So, it would be a gross overstatement to say that isn’t an important part, but at the same time our whole business model has really come together in the last year and we're looking forward to terrific 2015,” Dunkerley said.

“We keep our analysts pretty well informed and our guidance is generally pretty accurate. So, it’s not too much of catching the analysts out, but in terms of our margins, we have been very publicly saying that so long as fuel stays low and demand stays where it's been, all of the other things that we have done, should lead us to much higher margin in the coming year than we have seen in the past.”

When asked whether Hawaiian Airlines can possibly bring down the different types of fees it charges its flyers on the back of decline in fuel price and fewer passengers over the years, Dunkerley replied, “Pricing, whether it’s airfare or whether it’s things like baggage fees and some of the ancillary charges are really set by marketplace and independently of competition. Frankly, traveling today in North America is a very, very good deal […] It [fees] will depend on what the competition dictates.”