Alaska Airlines gains cargo momentum from Hawaiian integration
Alaska Air (NASDAQ: ALK) is operating daily nonstop service to Tokyo with Boeing 787-9 passenger jets from Hawaiian's fleet. Carrying cargo in the lower deck is driving the equivalent of 30 passenger seats worth of revenue per flight, according to management.
The Alaska Air Group reported $136 million in cargo revenue during the second quarter, a 34% increase from the same period in 2024. The revenue gains include the Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Amazon cargo lines of business as compared to those three business units before the merger.
Legacy Alaska Air Cargo second-quarter revenue increased 15% to $80 million.
The carrier has effectively backfilled most of the cargo volume displaced by repositioning the 787s from Honolulu to Seattle, according to the company.
Meanwhile, Alaska brought into service the final two of 10 Airbus A330 converted freighters operating under contract with Amazon to support its package delivery network. The Amazon business was inherited from Hawaiian Airlines, which began flying for the online retailer in late 2023. Alaska Airlines and Amazon are both based in Seattle.
The acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion gave Alaska Airlines access to widebody aircraft for the first time and more cargo capacity on domestic and international routes. In the nine months since Alaska Airlines combined with Hawaiian Airlines, the air cargo teams have worked to integrate their operations and systems, and improve processes for customers shipping to more than 130 cargo destinations.
'We're bullish on where we can go with this as we combine the two networks,' said Jason Berry, who heads Alaska's cargo business and also serves as president of regional subsidiary Horizon Air.
Alaska will begin passenger and cargo service from the Seattle gateway to Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 12 and launch its first transatlantic route to Rome next May.
Alaska Air Cargo in late March introduced sharing booking across the combined Alaska and Hawaiian cargo network. Shipments that originate on Alaska Air and continue on Hawaiian Airlines, or vice versa, can now be booked and tracked by customers on a single air waybill. Alaska is also working to co-locate cargo operations at stations served by both Alaska and Hawaiian, allowing customers to pick up and drop off shipments at a single location. Stations at New York JFK and Seattle, for example, were combined in early this year, according to company announcements.
Three of six daily nonstop flights between Seattle and Honolulu now operate with Airbus A330 Hawaiian widebody jets, offering increased cargo capacity. Alaska Airlines has also increased capacity for the Alaska fishing season — which runs from June 12 until Aug. 15 — by deploying A330 aircraft between Seattle and Anchorage twice daily to take advantage of the aircraft's larger belly hold.
Overall, Alaska Air beat analysts' expectations on the top and bottom lines, with revenue of $3.7 billion (up 2.1%) and earnings per share of $1.78 versus a consensus prediction of $1.44. Solid demand, especially in the premium segment,
CEO Ben Minicucci noted that the Hawaiian Airlines segment produced a quarterly profit for the first time since 2019, underscoring the power of combining the two carriers. Repositioning more A330 passenger jets to fly from Seattle to Honolulu and Anchorage has maximized asset utilization and improved the bottom line, he said.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
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