SEATTLE -- Alaska Air Group Inc., operator of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, on Thursday said it nearly doubled its loss for the first quarter as it works toward trimming expenses.
The company's loss widened to $80.5 million, or $2.39 per share, from $42.7 million, or $1.59 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, its adjusted loss would have been $41.7 million, or $1.54 per share, the company said.
On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for a quarterly loss of $1.22 per share.
Alaska Air shares fell 16 cents to $28.93 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $18.74 to $34.
"Making excuses for our results would be easy based on the current environment of extremely high fuel prices, very little pricing power and a seasonally soft first quarter," Bill Ayer, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "But these realities, along with the cost reductions achieved by others in the industry, mean that we simply must have lower costs."
Total operating revenue of $642.5 million was 7 percent higher than $598 million a year earlier. Analysts expected revenue of $641.2 million. Passenger revenue grew 6 percent to $587 million, while freight and mail increased 9 percent to $20.3 million.
Overall aircraft fuel costs swelled 36 percent to $146.7 million from $107.8 million in last year's quarter.
At Alaska Airlines, revenue passenger miles -- or one passenger flown a mile -- rose 8.9 percent to 3.9 billion, but the amount earned per passenger per mile sank 3.7 percent to 12.09 cents. Total capacity, however, expanded 3.7 percent as occupancy also grew to 72.6 percent from 69.1 percent. |
