Alaska Air Group February Traffic, Capacity Improve, While Load Factor Declines

(RTTNews) - Scheduled passenger services provider Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) reported Wednesday operational results for the month of February for its subsidiaries, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. The group's combined traffic and capacity improved, while passenger load factor declined from last 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 February, measured in revenue passenger miles, or RPMs, grew 4.3 percent to 2.16 billion from 2.07 billion in the same period last year.

Capacity, measured in available seat miles, or ASMs, increased 4.6 percent to 2.55 billion from 2.44 billion in February 2013. However, the Group's load factor for February edged down 0.2 percentage point to 84.6 percent from 84.8 percent in the same month a year ago.

Alaska Air Group carried 2.05 million revenue passengers in the month of February, up 5.2 percent from 1.95 million in the preceding year month.

For Alaska Airlines, traffic for the month improved 4.2 percent to 1.95 billion, and capacity also grew 4.2 percent to 2.29 billion from last year. However, passenger load factor remained flat with last year at 85.1 percent from a year ago.

Alaska Airlines carried 1.46 million revenue passengers in the month of February, up 5.9 percent from the preceding year month. It also reported that 85.4 percent of its flights arrived on time in February 2014, but decreased 5.2 percentage points from last year.

For Horizon Air, traffic edged up 0.6 percent to 162 million RPMs, and capacity grew 2.5 percent to 206 million ASMs from a year ago. Meanwhile, passenger load factor was 78.8 percent, down 1.2 percentage points from last year.

Horizon Air carried 539 thousand revenue passengers in the month, up 2.1 percent from the preceding year month. Horizon Air also reported that 82.2 percent of its flights arrived on time, but declined 10.2 percentage points decline from last year.

ALK closed Friday's regular trading session at $89.11, up $2.01 on a volume of 0.82 million shares.