Alitalia's first-quarter pre-tax loss widened to ?156.6 million ($201.6 million) from ?141.2 million in the year-ago quarter as January's labor unrest (ATWOnline, Jan. 27) aggravated the low-season effect that marks the March quarter.Revenues decreased 3.1% to ?965 million, mainly owing to the deconsolidation of the Alitalia Servizi services unit and the drop in passenger income caused by the strikes. Passenger revenues slid 1.6% to ?764 million, with yield falling 3.4%.

Fuel costs increased 24.7% to ?193 million, but total operating expenses fell 1.8% to ?1.09 billion as the AZ Servizi spinoff (ATWOnline, May 3, 2005) had a positive effect on labor costs, which plunged 35% to ?191 million. The group's workforce on March 31 amounted to 10,873, down about 46% compared to March 31, 2005. Operating loss widened to ?128.8 million from ?118.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

Capacity declined 2.3% to 1.22 billion ASKs and traffic inched up 1.8% to 813 million RPKs. Load factor reached 68.1%, improving 2.7 points compared to a year earlier, and unit revenues rose 0.6%. The number of passengers carried grew 1.9% to 5.2 million. The group's net debt increased to ?820 million from ?754 million one year earlier.

Alitalia said it would be "opportune to wait for the end of the second quarter as well as hope for an improvement in trade union relations" before making a full-year forecast.