Tina Bellon, Nivedita Balu

(Reuters] – Lyft Inc’s first-ever adjusted profit, a surge in expensive airport travel, were outweighed by a decline in ridership caused Omicron management Tuesday. Omicron was expected to persist through the first quarter and reduce profit.

A 6% decrease in revenue and profit for the first quarter was caused by the projected impact on profits. Lyft After-hours trading of shares (NASDAQ:). Uber Technologies Inc shares dropped 1.3% after its larger competitor Uber Technologies (NYSE) Inc reported results Wednesday.

Lyft predicted first-quarter revenues of $800 to $850 million. This is an increase of $170 million over the quarter ended 2021. The average analyst forecasts first-quarter revenues of $984 million.

Lyft said that in the first quarter, it would report lower adjusted earnings without interest, taxes depreciation or amortization. A measure that excludes stock-based compensation and one-time costs.

Elaine Paul was appointed as Chief Financial Officer and prepared investors for $5 million to $15 million in adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter compared to the almost $75 million that was available in the fourth.

Paul explained that Omicron would have prevented us from projecting solid sequential quarter-overquarter ride growth as well as revenue growth. Lyft was committed to profitability in adjusted EBITDA, she said.

Paul responded that Lyft was expecting the Omicron situation improvement in the next weeks. This is because mask mandates in some markets were removed.

Tigress Financial Partners analyst Ivan Feinseth indicated that Omicron remains the wildcard. He added that recovery will not be complete until conference returns and offices reopen.

Lyft’s fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA profit was affected by the Omicron warnings. According to Refinitiv data, revenue increased 70% to $969.9 Million, beating analyst estimates of $940.1million.

Lyft lost net $1 billion in 2021. However, that loss was smaller than its $1.8 billion loss for 2020.

The fourth quarter saw a nearly $52 increase in per-rider revenue, a 13.5% rise over the previous quarter and the largest amount of the nearly 10 year history.

Lyft executive said that the increase in revenue was due to the fact that airport travel is now more expensive than it was the previous year.

Lyft has never earned as much per rider as it did in the pre-pandemic years. As customers return to Lyft, so does its bigger rival. Uber Technologies Inc They have proven to be a powerful tool in raising prices while not alienating riders.

While there was a steady return of riders to the platform, the ridership decreased slightly by 1% in the fourth quarter compared to 2020 levels. Ridership remains at 30% below its pre-COVID level.

According to Factset, Lyft had 18.7 million users in its fourth quarter. This is less than the 20.2 million estimated by analysts.

Lyft blamed the decline in ridership on seasonality, and the fewer scooter and bicycle riders who took to Lyft during colder weather. However, it declined to split the ride-hail and micromobility share. Lyft president John Zimmer said that the New Year in 2021 was more busy than it had been previous years.

Many drivers gave up driving during the pandemic because they were unable to find customers or safety concerns. However, the platform continued to be used by many others.

The fourth quarter saw an increase of 34% in active drivers year-over-year. Lyft did not provide any information about the driver supply, however it was more than three times higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Zimmer stated that the continued trend of working from home, especially on the West Coast, as well as shifts in travel patterns away from the peak hours of the pandemic, were both beneficial.

“The commute wasn’t an enjoyable trip… so we are excited that things have changed.”