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

(RTTNews) - Scheduled passenger services provider Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) reported Thursday operational results for the month of June for its subsidiaries, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. The group's combined traffic and capacity improved, while passenger load factor edged down 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 June, measured in revenue passenger miles, or RPMs, grew 6.9 percent to 2.92 billion from 2.73 billion in the same period last year.

Capacity, measured in available seat miles, or ASMs, also increased 7.2 percent to 3.37 billion from 3.14 billion in June 2014. However, the Group's load factor for June edged down 0.2 percentage points to 86.7 percent from last year's 86.9 percent.

Alaska Air Group carried 2.81 million revenue passengers in the month of June, up 7.5 percent from 2.61 million in the preceding year month.

For Alaska Airlines, traffic for the month improved 6.9 percent to 2.65 billion RPMs, and capacity also grew 7.4 percent to 3.04 billion ASMs from last year. Passenger load factor edged down 0.4 percentage points to 87.0 percent from last year's 87.4 percent.

Alaska Airlines carried 2.02 million revenue passengers in the month of June, up 7.0 percent from the preceding year month. It also reported that 87.5 percent of its flights arrived on time in June 2015, up 1.5 percentage points from last year.

For Horizon Air, traffic increased 6.7 percent to 206 million RPMs, and capacity grew 5.5 percent to 251 million ASMs from a year ago. Passenger load factor was 82.0 percent, up 0.9 percentage points from last year.

Horizon Air carried 698 thousand revenue passengers in the month, up 7.6 percent from the preceding year month. Horizon Air also reported that 86.6 percent of its flights arrived on time, but was down 6.3 percentage points from last year.

For six-month period of 2015, combined Air Group traffic grew 9.0 percent to 16.17 billion RPMs, and capacity also increased 10.8 percent to 19.21 billion ASMs from last year. However, the Group's load factor for the period edged down 1.3 percentage points to 84.2 percent from last year.

Alaska Air Group also carried 15.34 million revenue passengers during the period, up 9.6 percent from the preceding year.

ALK closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $64.30, down $1.25 on a volume of 1.96 million shares.