Alaska Air Group reports first quarter 2021 results

SEATTLE, April 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ —

Financial Results:

• Reported a net loss for the first quarter of 2021 under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) of $131 million, or $1.05 per share, compared to a net loss of $232 million, or $1.89 per share in the first quarter of 2020.
• Reported a net loss for the first quarter of 2021, excluding CARES Act Payroll Support Program (PSP) wage offsets, special items and mark-to-market fuel hedge accounting adjustments, of $436 million, or $3.51 per share, compared to an adjusted net loss of $102 million or $0.83 per share, in the first quarter of 2020.
• Decreased adjusted net debt to $1.6 billion at March 31, 2021 from $1.7 billion at December 31, 2020.
• Reported a debt-to-capitalization ratio, including short-term borrowings related to COVID-19, of 62%.
• Held $3.5 billion in unrestricted cash and marketable securities as of March 31, 2021, and available total liquidity of $5.3 billion.
• Generated $167 million in operating cash flow in the first quarter, inclusive of PSP funding, bolstered by improved advance bookings for increased demand for air travel.

Operational Updates:

• Welcomed Ben Minicucci as Air Group CEO and Constance von Muehlen as Alaska COO.
• Formally joined the oneworld alliance on March 31 as the 14^th member airline. Entry into the alliance transforms Alaska into a global airline, provides guests a seamless travel experience and increases the value of our loyalty and corporate travel offerings.
• Finalized a previously announced amendment to the existing aircraft purchase agreement with Boeing to expand our total 737-9 MAX firm deliveries to 68 between 2021 and 2024, inclusive of 13 leased aircraft.
• Took delivery of four 737-9 MAX aircraft during the first quarter.
• Announced 12 new routes during the first quarter, aimed at offering our guests greater connectivity to and from West Coast destinations.
• Announced plans to open a new Alaska Lounge in Terminal 2 of San Francisco International Airport.
• Issued early recall notices to nearly 350 Alaska pilots on extended leaves to prepare for capacity growth.

Liquidity Updates:

• Received $546 million through a combination of grants and loans from the U.S. Treasury under an extension of the PSP, and anticipate a supplemental payment of $80 million in late April.
• Received notification from the U.S. Treasury that Alaska, Horizon and McGee are eligible to obtain an additional $584 million in incremental payroll support funding under a third round of the PSP.
• Extended maturity of the 364-day Senior Secured Term Loan previously due to expire in March 2021 to March 2022, and in conjunction funded an incremental $54 million.

Sustainability Updates:

• Published 2020 LIFT Sustainability Report including final data on our 2020 sustainability goals and Sustainable Accounting Standards Board disclosure, and shared new 2025 goals related to Environmental Social Governance.
• Announced specific commitments for diversity, equity, and inclusion to increase diverse leadership representation, cultivate an inclusive culture, and to continue supporting education.
• Set a course for net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, with 2025 milestone goals to be the most fuel-efficient U.S. airline, maintain carbon neutral growth, and cut ground service equipment climate emissions by 50%. As part of the net-zero commitment, joined The Climate Pledge alongside Amazon and other major businesses.
• Announced a memorandum of understanding with SkyNRG focused on increasing the supply and production of sustainable aviation fuel from municipal solid waste and other waste streams, especially in the western United States.

Alaska Air Group Inc. today reported a first quarter 2021 GAAP net loss of $131 million, or $1.05 per share, compared to a net loss of $232 million, or $1.89 per share in the first quarter of 2020. Excluding the impact of payroll support program wage offsets, special items and mark-to-market fuel hedge adjustments, the company reported an adjusted net loss of $436 million, or $3.51 per diluted share, compared to an adjusted net loss of $102 million, or $0.83 per diluted share in 2020.

"This has been a long road, and I want to thank the employees at Alaska and Horizon for providing great guest service and everything they've done to get through the last challenging year and help us achieve positive cash flow in March," said CEO Ben Minicucci. "We're a big company, but still small enough that each person's work makes a difference. We're now laser focused on a return to profitability and growth, with aggressive cost control, optimal productivity across all our work groups, and the operational and financial discipline that Alaska is known for." 

The following table reconciles the company's reported GAAP net loss per share (EPS) for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 to adjusted amounts.

Statistical data, as well as a reconciliation of the reported non-GAAP financial measures, can be found in the accompanying tables. A glossary of financial terms can be found on the last page of this release.

A conference call regarding the first quarter results will be streamed online at 8:30 a.m. PDT on April 22, 2021. It can be accessed at www.alaskaair.com/investors. For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available after the conclusion of the call.

References in this news release to "Air Group," "company," "we," "us" and "our" refer to Alaska Air Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, unless otherwise specified. Alaska Airlines, Inc. and Horizon Air Industries, Inc. are referred to as "Alaska" and "Horizon," respectively, and together as our "airlines."

This news release may contain forward-looking statements subject to the safe harbor protection provided by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual outcomes to be materially different from those indicated by any forward-looking statements.  For a comprehensive discussion of potential risk factors, see Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. Some of these risks include the risks associated with contagious illnesses and contagion, such as COVID-19, general economic conditions, increases in operating costs including fuel, competition, labor costs and relations, our indebtedness, inability to meet cost reduction goals, seasonal fluctuations in our financial results, an aircraft accident, and changes in laws and regulations. All of the forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to the risk factors discussed therein. We operate in a continually changing business environment, and new risk factors emerge from time to time. Management cannot predict such new risk factors, nor can it assess the impact, if any, of such new risk factors on our business or events described in any forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date of this report to conform them to actual results. Over time, our actual results, performance or achievements will likely differ from the anticipated results, performance, or achievements that are expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements, and such differences might be significant and materially adverse.

Alaska Airlines and its regional partners serve more than 120 destinations across the United States and to Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica. The airline emphasizes Next-Level Care for its guests, along with providing low fares, award-winning customer service and sustainability efforts. On March 31, 2021, Alaska became the 14th member of oneworld. With the global alliance and Alaska Airlines' additional partners, guests can travel to more than 1,000 destinations on more than 20 airlines while earning and redeeming miles on flights to locations around the world. Learn more about Alaska at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).

 

 

 

Given the unusual nature of 2020, we believe that some analysis of specific financial and operational results compared to 2019 provides meaningful insight. The table below includes comparative results from 2021 to 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

Note A: Pursuant to Regulation G, we are providing reconciliations of reported non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable financial measures reported on a GAAP basis. We believe that consideration of these non-GAAP financial measures may be important to investors for the following reasons:

• By eliminating fuel expense and certain special items (including the payroll support program wage offset, impairment and restructuring charges and merger-related costs) from our unit metrics, we believe that we have better visibility into the results of operations as we focus on cost-reduction initiatives emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our industry is highly competitive and is characterized by high fixed costs, so even a small reduction in non-fuel operating costs can result in a significant improvement in operating results. In addition, we believe that all domestic carriers are similarly impacted by changes in jet fuel costs over the long run, so it is important for management (and thus investors) to understand the impact of (and trends in) company-specific cost drivers such as labor rates and productivity, airport costs, maintenance costs, etc., which are more controllable by management.
• Cost per ASM (CASM) excluding fuel and certain special items, such as the payroll support program wage offset, impairment and restructuring charges and merger-related costs, is one of the most important measures used by management and by the Air Group Board of Directors in assessing quarterly and annual cost performance.
• Adjusted income before income tax (and other items as specified in our plan documents) is an important metric for the employee incentive plan, which covers the majority of Air Group employees.
• CASM excluding fuel and certain special items is a measure commonly used by industry analysts, and we believe it is the basis by which they have historically compared our airline to others in the industry. The measure is also the subject of frequent questions from investors.
• Disclosure of the individual impact of certain noted items provides investors the ability to measure and monitor performance both with and without these special items. We believe that disclosing the impact of these items as noted above. Industry analysts and investors consistently measure our performance without these items for better comparability between periods and among other airlines.
• Although we disclose our passenger unit revenues, we do not (nor are we able to) evaluate unit revenues excluding the impact that changes in fuel costs have had on ticket prices. Fuel expense represents a large percentage of our total operating expenses. Fluctuations in fuel prices often drive changes in unit revenues in the mid-to-long term. Although we believe it is useful to evaluate non-fuel unit costs for the reasons noted above, we would caution readers of these financial statements not to place undue reliance on unit costs excluding fuel as a measure or predictor of future profitability because of the significant impact of fuel costs on our business.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Adjusted net debt – long-term debt, including current portion, plus capitalized operating leases, less cash and marketable securities

Adjusted net debt to EBITDAR – represents net adjusted debt divided by EBITDAR (trailing twelve months earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, special items and rent)

Aircraft Utilization – block hours per day; this represents the average number of hours per day our aircraft are in transit

Aircraft Stage Length – represents the average miles flown per aircraft departure

ASMs – available seat miles, or "capacity"; represents total seats available across the fleet multiplied by the number of miles flown

CASM – operating costs per ASM, or "unit cost"; represents all operating expenses including fuel and special items

CASMex – operating costs excluding fuel and special items per ASM; this metric is used to help track progress toward reduction of non-fuel operating costs since fuel is largely out of our control

Debt-to-capitalization ratio – represents adjusted debt (long-term debt plus capitalized operating lease liabilities) divided by total equity plus adjusted debt

Diluted Earnings per Share – represents earnings per share (EPS) using fully diluted shares outstanding

Diluted Shares – represents the total number of shares that would be outstanding if all possible sources of conversion, such as stock options, were exercised

Economic Fuel – best estimate of the cash cost of fuel, net of the impact of our fuel-hedging program

Load Factor – RPMs as a percentage of ASMs; represents the number of available seats that were filled with paying passengers

Mainline – represents flying Boeing 737, Airbus 320 and Airbus 321neo family jets and all associated revenues and costs

Productivity – number of revenue passengers per full-time equivalent employee

RASM – operating revenue per ASMs, or "unit revenue"; operating revenue includes all passenger revenue, freight & mail, Mileage Plan and other ancillary revenue; represents the average total revenue for flying one seat one mile

Regional – represents capacity purchased by Alaska from Horizon and SkyWest. In this segment, Regional records actual on-board passenger revenue, less costs such as fuel, distribution costs, and payments made to Horizon and SkyWest under the respective capacity purchased arrangement (CPAs). Additionally, Regional includes an allocation of corporate overhead such as IT, finance, other administrative costs incurred by Alaska and on behalf of Horizon.

RPMs – revenue passenger miles, or "traffic"; represents the number of seats that were filled with paying passengers; one passenger traveling one mile is one RPM

Yield – passenger revenue per RPM; represents the average revenue for flying one passenger one mile

 

SOURCE Alaska Air Group