ALASKA AIR RISES ON STRONG PREMIUM DEMAND AFTER PROFIT BEAT

(Bloomberg) -- Alaska Air Group Inc. rose after it beat Wall Street’s expectations and reported strong demand for premium and business flying, though it joined larger rivals in offering a more tepid outlook for 2026. 

Shares in the Seattle-based carrier rose 6.4% to $52 as of 12:42 p.m. New York time, fueled by management’s forecasts and ability to keep costs in check and cash in on lucrative international travel. 

But airline executives offered a wider-than-usual profit range for the year and told analysts the carrier remains at the mercy of volatile fuel prices and potential global shocks after a whipsaw 2025. 

The comments mirror those of larger rivals United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc., which laid out more cautious profit forecasts following disruptions arising from President Donald Trump’s campaign to reset global trade as well as flight restrictions during the government shutdown.

“We’re in a similar frame of mind as both Delta and United are on this with what happened last year and that unexpected material reduction in demand,” Chief Financial Officer Shane Tackett told Bloomberg. “We need to account for some of that volatility in our guidance range.”

For the full year, Alaska expects adjusted earnings per share of $3.50 to $6.50, the airline said in a statement on Thursday. The midpoint of its range is below the $5.52 a share analysts expected on average.

Fourth-quarter adjusted diluted profit was 43 cents a share. That exceeded the average analyst estimates of 11 cents a share, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Adjustments included integration costs related to its $1.9 billion merger with Hawaiian Airlines, and other items.

Adjusted net income for the full year was $2.44 per share, ahead of average analyst estimates of $2.14 per share.

Alaska had provided conservative guidance for the fourth quarter in December, given the uncertainty following the government shutdown and an IT outage, Tackett said.

“There were a lot of pieces of the business that weren’t normalized and that were still rebounding,” he said. “We didn’t want to miss the guide at the low end and gave ourselves a little bit of room and then we outperformed that in the fourth quarter.”

Earlier this month, the airline announced its largest order of new Boeing Co. planes as it ramps up efforts to link Seattle and Honolulu into a broader international network. US aviation regulators also approved Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines for a single operating certificate.

Alaska expects an adjusted loss per share between 50 cents and $1.50 for the first quarter of 2026. The first three months of the year tend to be weaker for US airlines since the quarter follows the busy holiday travel period and can be marred by foul weather.

About 1,700 flights for Saturday have been canceled, according to FlightAware, as a vast swath of the US braces for winter-storm conditions that could last days.

Alaska’s results are the first since an IT outage disrupted the airline’s planned call for the third quarter. Alaska said it expects to increase technology investments and is evaluating providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure as part of its revamp.

--With assistance from Siddharth Philip.

(Updates throughout with comments from earnings call, shares and winter storm.)

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2026-01-23T00:06:34Z