Alaska Air Reports June, First Half Traffic Growth

Alaska Air Group reported its June and first half 2017 traffic results on Monday, including its Alaska Airlines and Virgin America units.

Group airlines flew 3.9 million revenue passengers in June, a 5.2 percent lift from June 2016. Of the total, Alaska Air added 6.9 percent more passengers to 2.3 million, while Virgin America increased its total to 744,000, a 2.9 percent increase.

Group passenger traffic in RPM terms rose 8.3 percent, with Alaska up 8.7 percent, and Virgin up 5.6 percent. ASM capacity increased by 6.9 percent group-wide, 7.5 percent at Alaska, and 4.2 percent at Virgin. Group load factor was up one percentage point at 87.3 percent.

For the six months to end June, group passenger traffic rose 6.4 percent on an ASM capacity increase of 5.4 percent. Load factor edged up 0.8 of a percentage point to 84.2 percent.

Passenger traffic for the group's regional carriers Horizon Air, SkyWest Airlines and Peninsula Airlines jumped 13.1 percent in June on a passenger number increase of 2.5 percent to 857,000.

Alaska Air bought Virgin America in December 2016.