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Alaska Air Group (ALK) Reports Impressive August Traffic

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Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK - Free Report) reported traffic statistics for August. Traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs), increased 4.6% to 5.19 billion.

Also, on a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) rose 4.2% to 6.04 billion. With traffic growth outpacing capacity expansion, load factor or percentage of seats filled by passengers improved 30 basis points (bps) to 86%.

In the first eight months of 2019, the carrier generated RPMs of 37.66 billion (up 1.6% year over year) and ASMs of 44.64 billion (up 1.3% year over year). As a result, load factor increased 30 bps to 84.4%.

Alaska Air Group recently revised its guidance for third-quarter unit revenues and fuel costs. The carrier expects revenue per available seat mile (RASM) to rise in the 3-5% range year over year (the earlier outlook projected an increase in the 2-5% range). Additionally, economic fuel cost is now anticipated to be $2.15 per gallon compared with the earlier forecast of $2.21.


Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Alaska Air Group carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (VLRS - Free Report) , Copa Holdings, S.A. (CPA - Free Report) and Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT - Free Report) . While Controladora Vuela and Copa sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Allegiant carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Controladora Vuela, Copa and Allegiant have rallied more than 94%, 25% and 50% so far this year, respectively.

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