Alaska Air Group March Traffic, Capacity Rise; Load Factor Declines

(RTTNews) - Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) on Thursday reported operational results for the month of March 2014 for its subsidiaries, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, and on a combined basis. The group's combined traffic and capacity increased, while passenger load factor declined from last year.

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

The Seattle, Washington-based company reported that combined Air Group traffic for the month of March, measured in revenue passenger miles, or RPMs, grew 4.7 percent to 2.61 billion from 2.49 billion in the same period last year.

Capacity, measured in available seat miles, or ASMs, increased 5.4 percent to 2.99 billion from 2.84 billion in the year-ago period. However, the Group's load factor for March edged down 0.6 percentage points to 87.1 percent from 87.7 percent in the same month a year ago.

Alaska Air Group carried 2.44 million revenue passengers in the month of March, up 5.0 percent from 2.33 million in the same period last year.

For Alaska Airlines, traffic for the month improved 4.0 percent from last year to 2.36 billion RPMs and capacity grew 4.6 percent to 2.69 billion ASMs. However, passenger load factor declined 0.6 percentage points to 87.7 percent.

Alaska Airlines carried 1.74 million revenue passengers in the month of March, up 3.7 percent from the preceding year month. It also reported that 88.1 percent of its flights arrived on time in the month, up 2.6 percentage points from last year.

For Horizon Air, traffic grew 1.6 percent to 187 million RPMs, and capacity grew 2.6 percent to 234 million ASMs from a year ago. Meanwhile, passenger load factor was 79.9 percent, down 1.0 percentage point from last year.

Horizon Air carried 630 thousand revenue passengers in the month, up 4.7 percent from the preceding year month. Horizon Air also reported that 85.4 percent of its flights arrived on time in the month, but declined 4.6 percentage points from last year.

ALK closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $94.88, up $0.78 or 0.83 percent on a volume of 921,383 shares.