Alaska Air Group August Traffic, Capacity Improve, While Load Factor Edges Down

(RTTNews) - Scheduled passenger services provider Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) reported Wednesday operational results for the month of August for its subsidiaries, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. The group's combined traffic and capacity improved, while passenger load factor edged down from year.

The operational results include flights operated by Alaska and those under capacity purchase agreements, including Horizon, SkyWest and PenAir.

The Seattle, Washington-based airliner reported that combined Air Group traffic for the month of August, measured in revenue passenger miles, or RPMs, grew 6.8 percent to 2.89 billion from 2.71 billion in the same period last year.

Capacity, measured in available seat miles, or ASMs, also increased 7.5 percent to 3.32 billion from 3.08 billion in August 2013. However, the Group's load factor for August edged dow 0.5 percentage points to 88.6 percent from last year.

Alaska Air Group carried 2.82 million revenue passengers in the month of August, up 8.1 percent from 2.60 million in the preceding year month.

For Alaska Airlines, traffic for the month improved 6.2 percent to 2.61 billion RPMs, and capacity also grew 6.6 percent to 2.98 billion ASMs from last year. Passenger load factor edged down 0.4 percentage points to 87.6 percent from last year's 88.0 percent.

Alaska Airlines carried 2.05 million revenue passengers in the month of August, up 8.0 percent from the preceding year month. It also reported that 83.8 percent of its flights arrived on time in August 2014, but was down 1.3 percentage points from last year.

For Horizon Air, traffic increased 3.5 percent to 209 million RPMs, and capacity grew 7.6 percent to 254 million ASMs from a year ago. Meanwhile, passenger load factor was 82.3 percent, down 3.3 percentage points from last year.

Horizon Air carried 687 thousand revenue passengers in the month, up 5.0 percent from the preceding year month. Horizon Air also reported that 88.4 percent of its flights arrived on time, which grew 1.7 percentage points from last year.

For the year-to-date eight-month period, combined Air Group traffic grew 5.2 percent to 20.69 billion RPMs, and capacity also increased 5.5 percent to 24.0 billion ASMs from the same period last year. However, the Group's load factor for the period edged down 0.2 percentage points to 86.2 percent from last year.

Alaska Air Group carried 19.65 million revenue passengers during the eight-month period, up 5.9 percent from the preceding year period.

ALK closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $48.24, up $1.90 or 4.10% on a volume of 1.61 million shares.