The Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), the parent company behind Alaska Airlines , Hawaiian Airlines, and Horizon Air, delivered a profitable third quarter. The airline group printed record revenues of around $3.8 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.05, but it cut its full-year outlook to at least $2.40 per share and guided fourth quarter earnings per share down to around $0.40, both of which came in well below analyst expectations.

The airline's management team cited higher West Coast fuel prices and higher recovery costs tied to summer disruptions. Unit revenues rose in the third quarter and are expected to be positive again in the fourth quarter, helped by reduced discounting and loyalty momentum, although non-fuel unit costs remained high. To add insult to injury, an IT outage around the t

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