Alaska Air Net Loss Expands, Offers Brighter Outlook
- Scott Peters
- U.S.A. New York City
-
The airline said it plans to moderate its capacity expansion plan as it exits Airbus planes, retrains pilots, and lower the impact of higher fuel prices.
Alaska Air Group said first quarter 2022 revenues increased 111% to $1.68 billion, net loss increased 10% to $143 million, and diluted loss per share increased 10% to $1.14 from $1.05 a year ago.
Passenger load factor increased to 76.8% from 51.8%, revenues per available seat mile increased to 11.30 cents from 7.11 cents, and fuel cost per gallon increased to $2.61 from $1.77 a year ago.
"Alaska has a proven track record and a resilient business model that delivers in good times and through challenging ones. We are on course to deliver 6% to 9% adjusted pre-tax margins in 2022, as we recently announced at our investor day," said Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci. "March results were particularly strong, marked by our highest cash sales month in history and revenues that exceeded 2019 levels for the first time since the pandemic began.
Our people are working hard to get our airline back to its pre-COVID size and to return to growth from there, all while delivering the operational excellence that we're known for. It's an honor to have our company's hard work recognized by Air Transport World as the 2022 Global Airline of the Year."
We recently reduced Q2 scheduled capacity in response to shortfalls in throughput from our pilot training department versus what was originally planned. For this reason, coupled with our commitment to exit the Airbus A320 fleet on an accelerated timeline, as well as persistent high oil prices, we have reduced our planned capacity growth modestly as compared to previous expectations.
For these reasons, we've also reduced our full year 2022 capacity expectations from up 1% to 3% versus 2019, to flat to down 3% versus 2019. As a direct result of the reduction in full year capacity expectations, we expect full year 2022 CASMex to be up 6% to 8% compared to our prior expectation of up 3% to 5%. We continue to expect full year 2022 adjusted pre-tax margins between 6% and 9%.
Annual Returns
| Company | Ticker | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Air Group Inc | ALK | -5% | 73% | -15% |