Alaska Air Group reported Tuesday a $76 million loss in its second quarter, citing volatile fuel costs that cut back flights in April and May.
In the second quarter, which ran from April to June, the company reported $4.1 billion in revenue, a 10% increase from $3.7 billion in the same period a year ago.
This quarter’s earnings came to a loss of 68 cents per share, compared with $1.42 per share in the same quarter a year ago.
The loss is still an improvement from this year’s first quarter, when Alaska Air reported a loss of $193 million.
Alaska Air Group includes Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, regional carrier Horizon Air and McGee Air Services, a ground support company.
The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz drove the price of crude to the highest it’s been since 2022. Since then, airlines have been forced to raise fares, trim back on flights and shift their predictions for the year.
Alaska Air has cut back on flights through the third and fourth quarter in an effort to save on what’s being lost on higher fuel costs. The trips being trimmed are primarily red-eyes and midweek flights that aren’t typically full.
Oil prices started to decline during a fragile ceasefire that has effectively come to an end, risking a return to rising fuel prices.
“If not for higher fuel prices, we would have been solidly profitable in the quarter,” Ryan St. John, an executive for Alaska Air Group, said in an interview on Tuesday.
Keeping momentum
The company predicted a profitable 2026 in January, then suspended its full-year guidance at the end of the first quarter because of unpredictability in crude prices. St. John confirmed that the company will not resume full-year guidance this year.
That same month, Alaska Air predicted that costs for the second quarter would land around $4.50 per gallon, but they averaged out to $4.43 per gallon, according to the company’s earnings report.
“The whole airline industry has had to raise fares to try and make up these extremely high fuel costs,” St. John said. “We didn't make up enough of it in the second quarter.”
Fares for average-priced tickets, usually around $200, have only gone up 10% to 15%, he said.
Despite the loss, St. John said he feels positive about the momentum the company maintained throughout the quarter, saying that the company was profitable in June, and he’s optimistic about new changes to the airline.
The company announced Tuesday a new fleet of Boeing 787-800 planes, to fly under the Hawaiian Airlines branding, which Alaska Air Group acquired in 2024. The new planes will be based in Oʻahu and will replace the retiring Boeing 717 fleet. “From a guest and customer standpoint, it’s newer aircraft, more options for our cargo shippers,” St. John said. “We're super excited to continue to roll out in the state of Hawai’i.”
In addition, the company has seen solid demand for its premium products. St. John said that Alaska Air’s premium revenues are succeeding, having been relatively unaffected by fuel price spikes.
The company’s rewards membership enrollments are up 15% year over year, he said, adding that demand has grown for first-class and premium-class seats. “People want to sit upfront whether they're corporate or leisure,” he said.
According to St. John, demand for premium experiences has remained resilient, even as the whole airline industry has had to raise fares to make up for extremely high fuel costs.
Last year, the airline added more first-class seats to its fleet of 737 planes, he said, and airport lounges have been increasingly popular as well.
Alaska expects the third quarter to see more capacity overall, with new long-haul international flights out of Seattle. Leaning on high demand, new flight routes and prospective lower fuel costs, the group expects a pivot from its losses in July, August and September.
This story has been updated to correct an error in the third paragraph. A previous version of this story stated adjusted earnings per share for Q2, 2025 instead of net income per share for the same quarter.
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