AIRBORNE EXPRESS SEES IMPROVED 3RD-QUARTER

AIRBORNE EXPRESS SEES IMPROVED 3RD-QUARTER    Airborne Inc. reported third-quarter net income of $1.7 million, compared with a $5.5-million loss in the year-earlier period.
   Results for the quarter include a $7.8 million credit for compensation received for losses during September under the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act. The compensation reflects only a portion of the approximately $13 million loss Airborne estimates it sustained in September due to the disruption in business.
   Total revenues for the third quarter decreased 4.0 percent to $773 million. Earnings from operations totaled $1.4 million compared to operating losses of $3.0 million in the third quarter of 2000.
   Total shipment volume for the third quarter dropped 3.0 percent to 77.7 million shipments. Domestic shipment volume for the quarter declined 2.8 percent to 76.3.
   “We are making progress in winning new business, but shipment gains in these areas are offset by the erosion of our existing customers’ business due primarily to the economic slowdown,” Said Carl Donaway, president and chief operating officer. “Our Overnight and Next Afternoon segments experienced a considerable decline in volume as customers continued to shift to the lower-cost alternatives of Second Day and Ground Delivery service.”
   For the first nine months of 2001, Airborne reported a net loss of $21.6 million, compared to net earnings before a change in accounting of $26.1 million in the like period of 2000. Revenues for the period remained relatively unchanged at $2.4 billion. Loss from operations was $22.0 million for the nine-month period of 2001 compared to earnings from operations of $55.7 million in the prior year period.
   Robert Cline, chairman and chief executive officer said that, while the fourth quarter was difficult to predict, the company anticipates 'negative shipment growth in our higher yielding express products, mitigated somewhat by our expansion of deferred and ground products.”