Passengers dip 9 percent at Reno Air

The decline in passengers, from 505,047 in June 1997 to 458,667 last month, was expected as a result of changes in flight schedules intended to cut costs, said Joanne Smith, senior vice president for marketing and planning.

Reno Air is flying two less aircraft and serving five fewer cities than it did a year ago.

"Things are coming into place," Smith said. "Our costs have been reduced significantly, the operation streamlined and our customers are seeing the difference.

"The summer looks good and we are on track for a profitable year," she said in a statement Wednesday.

Meanwhile, one airline analyst sharply lowered his estimates of Reno Air's second-quarter earnings due out at the end of the month.

Samuel Buttrick of Paine Webber in New York lowered his earnings estimate from 35 cents a share to 8 cents a share. He still rates Reno Air as a "speculative buy" on hopes that cost-cutting moves will turn around the struggling airline.

Reno Air lost $8.6 million in the first quarter of this year, 81 cents per common share of stock. The airline lost $12.3 million total in 1997.

Buttrick said his new estimate is due in part to the airline's inability to answer all of its telephone lines. He said that costs it callers and money.

"If this turnaround is going to work, we better damn well see it in the September (third) quarter," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

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