Yahoo Finance Alaska Air (ALK) Gears Up for a Busy Summer Season Ahead
Alaska Air Group ALK is expanding its network by introducing new routes as it offers the largest summer schedule in its history, in anticipation of the busy summer season ahead. The airline is also making other arrangements like increasing the number of daily flights in its network that fly to popular destinations.
Some of the steps taken by ALK to meet the anticipated buoyant demand scenario include the introduction of nearly 10% more flights to favorite destinations and operation of new nonstop routes connecting Anchorage and New York, Portland and Nashville, and San Diego with both Atlanta and Anchorage.
The airline is also growing its presence in Los Angeles. Moreover, for the first time this summer, ALK is operating flights to international destinations like Guatemala City, The Bahamas and Toronto. Additionally, ALK is offering more flights to Mexico from the West Coast than any other carrier in the United States.
This summer, ALK is also upgrading its facilities at key airports to improve passengers’ travel experience. As evidence, management will introduce a brand new, bolder and brighter lobby in August at Portland International Airport.
During the peak summer months (June, July and August) ALK, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), added almost one million seats to meet the demand swell. In fact, owing to the buoyant air-travel demand scenario, ALK carried in excess of 500,000 guests to their destinations over the recent Memorial Day weekend. The figure represents a 6% year over year increase.
ALK expects that its busiest days in the summer season will be before and after Jul 4, where almost 160,000 passengers are expected to fly on ALK flights each day.
Driven by the buoyant air-travel demand scenario, shares of ALK increased 12% over the past three months against its industry’s 3.5% decline.
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Airline Stocks to Consider
Investors interested in the airline industry may consider SkyWest SKYW and Copa Holdings CPA. SkyWest presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Copa Holdings carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
SkyWest's fleet modernization efforts are commendable. Upbeat air-travel demand also supports the company. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SKYW’s 2024 earnings has improved 6.6% over the past 60 days. The stock has risen 55% year to date.
SKYW has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for 2024. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 128.09%, on average.
Latin American carrier Copa Holdings is being aided by upbeat air-travel demand. We are also encouraged by Copa Holdings' initiatives to modernize its fleet.
Over the past 60 days, the stock has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 earnings being revised 3.7% upward. CPA surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the last four quarters by an average of 20.2%.
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