DALLAS - Alaska Airlines (AS), the Seattle-based U.S. carrier, has reported its financial results for Q2 2023. AS also formed detailed predictions for future results, underlining a sharp increase in travel demand as pre-pandemic habits return. The airline also reported to have the aviation market's best on-time performance for June.

Their profit this quarter is approximately US$240m compared to last year's US$139m, prompting AS to increase operations in order to fulfill the industry's rapid regrowth. Overall, the net income of AS is reported to be US$387m compared to last year's US$280m, despite the increased fuel costs. A total of US$2.8bn in operating revenue has been recorded in Q2, the highest ever seen in the corporation's history and greatly surpassing pre-pandemic earnings. 

Over the past few months, AS received eight Boeing 737-9 aircraft, plus six Embraer E175 aircraft for their subsidiary, Horizon Air (QX). One of the airline's largest operational highlights is its planned routes to the Caribbean and Central America from the West Coast.

Following the reported earnings, AS CEO Ben Minicucci said that "People are hungry to travel and our frontline employees are delivering the safe, reliable and caring experience that people expect when they fly with us. I'm so proud of our team for knocking it out of the park and delivering industry-leading operational and financial outcomes. We chose to prioritize reliability, which is imperative to restoring stability, improving predictability for our guests and employees, capturing record revenue, and serving as the foundation for our long-term profitable growth."

Fiscal Predictions for Q3

Based on the carrier's earnings so far, AS predicts an increase in capacity by 10-13% from 2022. Furthermore, the yearly revenue is anticipated to increase up to 3% by the end of the financial year. However, fuel costs are expected to increase from US$2.70 to US$2.80 per gallon by the end of Q3. This challenge is to be faced by airlines around the world as global fuel prices increase rapidly.

The Q2 results that AS unveiled the massive demand faced by the aviation industry after a quick recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. While many predicted that revenue units from 2019 would not return until a matter of years following the lockdown, some statistics display higher operational and overall earnings that have never been displayed before in the market, with airlines increasing the route frequency and restoring the use of larger aircraft such as the Airbus A380.

https://airwaysmag.com/alaska-airlines-adds-guatemala-city/

Featured image: N566AS Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 KBOS BOS. Photo: Marty Basaria/Airways