Alaska Air Group Q4 Adj. Profit Beats Estimates

(RTTNews) - Alaska Air Group (ALK) Wednesday announced fourth quarter net income of $114 million or 0.92 per share, down from $191 million or $1.51 per share last year. On an adjusted basis, earnings were $193 million or $1.56 per share.

On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.4 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items.

Total operating revenue for the quarter increased 11 percent to $1.524 billion from $1.377 billion last year. Total passenger revenue rose 9 percent to $1.288 billion, with 10 percent increase in mainline revenues.

Traffic for the fourth quarter climbed 13.1 percent to 9.640 billion from 8.526 billion revenue passenger miles last year. Capacity for the quarter were up 10.3 percent to 11.407 billion from 10.340 billion a year ago. Load factore increased 2 points to 84.5 from 82.5 in the previous year.