Alaska Airlines delays Oneworld accession to 1Q21

Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma Int’l) is planning to complete its accession to the Oneworld alliance during the first quarter of 2021, slightly later than previously planned, President Ben Minicucci said during a webcast presentation at the Cowen Global Transportation & Sustainable Mobility Conference. The airline had previously said that it hoped to join the alliance by the end of 2020. The revised timeline still marks an acceleration compared to the original plan – “mid-2021” when the plan to join the alliance in early 2020 was first announced. Speaking during the same webcast, Chief Financial Officer Shane Tackett reaffirmed that Alaska Airlines “still had appetite” to take all aircraft ordered from Boeing and to gradually phase out its Airbus narrowbodies inherited after the takeover of Virgin America (VX, San Francisco, CA). According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Alaska Airlines currently operates fifty-one A320-200s and ten A321-200Ns. The airline has firm orders for thirty-two B737-9s from Boeing. Tackett added that Alaska Airlines has no plans to raise capital through fresh equity issuances and would instead seek to prop up its liquidity through other means.