Seattle-based Alaska’s $4 billion acquisition of San Francisco-based Virgin America closed in December 2016, so the company calculated a $505 million adjusted pre-tax profit for the combined company in the 2017 second quarter, excluding $24 million in merger-related costs. That compares to a $493 million adjusted pre-tax profit for Alaska and Virgin America combined in the 2016 second quarter.
The combined revenue of Alaska and Virgin America rose 10% year-over-year (YOY) in the second quarter to $2.1 billion while combined expenses rose 13% to $1.6 billion, producing an operating profit of $493 million, up 1% over combined operating income of $489 million for the two companies in the 2016 June quarter.
Alaska/Virgin America traffic rose 7.9% YOY in the second quarter to 13.6 billion RPMs on a 5.8% increase in capacity to 15.6 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 86.8%, up 1.6 points. RASM rose 3.5% to 13.5 cents.
Alaska CEO Brad Tilden described the second quarter as “very solid” and noted the combined Alaska/Virgin America is benefiting from a “growing customer base and strong revenue performance.”