Horizon Air

Hedging halves Alaska Airlines' 3Q2011 profit

Were it not for fuel hedging losses, Alaska Airlines would have posted record net income during the third quarter. But unlike Southwest, which was pushed into the red, Alaska retained profitability by posting USD77.5 million in net income, down from the USD122.4 million posted in 3Q2010. Excluding special items, the company would have bested 3Q2010 income of USD118.1 million by posting net income of USD131.1 million.

Analysts expected USD118.5 million in profits for the quarter. The company noted a 12% increase in operating revenues of USD130 million as fuel prices offset traffic gains. Higher advanced bookings and load factor boosted Alaska’s confidence that demand is remaining stable.

SkyWest reverses 1Q loss, goes beyond anticipated break even

SkyWest resumed profitability in the second quarter when it posted net income of USD1.6 million on USD933.7 million in operating revenues, a dramatic turnaround from the first quarter when it posted its first quarterly loss in 23 years.

At long last, divestiture for American Eagle

As expected, and as no other regional airline wanted to buy it, AMR is divesting its regional airline subsidiary American Eagle by spinning off Eagle stock to AMR shareholders. This was also expected since early reports said one of the options was to set up Eagle as an independent, publicly traded company with stock given to AMR shareholders.

US carriers report improving revenue performance in 2011 but fuel prices a challenge

Continued positive trends in passenger yields and unit revenues were reported in Feb-2011, linked to a recovery of high-fare business travel demand. However, despite improvements in the demand and yield environment, carriers are now facing a new challenge in escalating fuel costs with this pressure resulting in some of the majors announcing capacity growth reductions in the months ahead.