Alaska Air Group Traffic Climbs 5.6%, Load Factor Edges Up 0.5 Points

(RTTNews) - Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) Tuesday announced 5.6 percent increase in traffic for December to 4.125 billion revenue passenger miles, on top of 3.905 billion last year. Load factor edged up 0.5 points to 83.1 percent from 82.6 percent last year.

Capacity expressed in passenger load factor climbed to 83.1 percent from 82.6 percent in the comparable period.

For the full year, the group traffic was up 10.8 percent, while load factor climbed 0.4 points.

For December, Alaska Airlines reported 4.2 percent increase in traffic, and load factor was up 2.5 percent.

Virgin America's December traffic advanced 9 percent and load factor declined by 1.4 points. Alaska Group has finished the acquisition of Virgin America on December 14.

Regional traffic was up 8.5 percent.