Alaska Airlines beginning in September will start to roll out additional First Class and Premium Class seating across 218 of its aircraft, the carrier announced Wednesday. The expansion would add 1.3 million premium seats annually to Alaska’s mainline fleet.
Earlier in 2024, the carrier retrofitted its regional fleet, adding a row of Premium Class seats to each of its Embraer 175 aircraft, according to Alaska. The additions are in response to “growing demand” from customers, and when completed, it will drive up the carrier’s premium seat mix by 3 percentage points to 28 percent, Alaska president and CEO Ben Minicucci said Thursday during an earnings call.
“We’ll be adding six Premium Class seats to our [Boeing] 737-900ER and Max-9 fleets, and four First Class seats to our 737-800 fleet,” Minicucci said. “I’m excited that we are making this investment as we continue to respond to guest preference and diversity our revenue base.”
The additions are planned for completion by mid-2026, according to Alaska.
First Class and Premium Class revenues were up 8 percent and 6 percent year over year, respectively, and “continue to outpace main cabin revenue growth,” Alaska chief revenue officer and chief commercial officer Andrew Harrison said during the call.
‘Solid’ Managed Corp. Business
Managed corporate travel demand “remains solid” following the “significant step up we experienced at the beginning of the year,” Harrison said. Second-quarter corporate revenue was up 24 percent year over year, “driven by technology companies that were up 40 percent year over year.”
Overall corporate volume is about 85 percent recovered to pre-pandemic levels while revenue has “eclipsed 2019,” Harrison added. There’s additional potential in the Bay Area, where corporate revenue has recovered to about 80 percent of 2019 levels, he said.
Alaska Q2 Metrics
Alaska reported second-quarter passenger revenue of nearly $2.7 billion, up 2 percent year over year, on total revenue of nearly $2.9 billion, also up 2 percent from Q2 2023. Net income was $220 million, down from the $240 million reported a year ago. Capacity increased 6 percent year over year for the quarter. The average fuel price for the period was $2.84 per gallon.
The carrier’s third-quarter outlook includes capacity growth of 2 percent to 3 percent year over year and fuel costs at $2.85 to $2.95 per gallon. Full-year 2024 capacity is projected to be up 2.5 percent compared with 2023.
