People Express Posts $113-Million Loss

People Express Inc., the no-frills cut-rate airline whose financial condition has been in a steep dive this year, said it lost $113 million in the third quarter.

In a report issued late Friday, People Express said earnings were seriously hurt by $55.5 million in costs related to its sale of Denver-based Frontier Airlines subsidiary and a steep drop in passenger traffic, to only 45% of capacity.

The loss is equal to $4.34 a share, more than the stock’s price of $2.875.

The third-quarter loss took the total loss for the first nine months of the year to a staggering $245 million.