Current Financial Status of Major US Airlines During Summer

Air travel is all the way back.

Despite battling unprecedented demand, crippling staffing shortages exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and disruptive weather in recent months, airlines have managed to keep the traveling public moving and turned quite a profit in the process.

Here’s the latest on where the major carriers stand financially after reporting their results for the second quarter of 2023.

Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines reported a net income for the second quarter of 2023 of $240 million ($1.86 per share), which was far higher compared to a net income of $139 million ($1.09 per share) it reported in the second quarter of 2022.

The carrier thus updated its outlook on the remainder of 2023.

“People are hungry to travel and our frontline employees are delivering the safe, reliable and caring experience that people expect when they fly with us,” Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci said.

“I’m so proud of our team for knocking it out of the park and delivering industry-leading operational and financial outcomes. We chose to prioritize reliability, which is imperative to restoring stability, improving predictability for our guests and employees, capturing record revenue, and serving as the foundation for our long-term profitable growth.”

American Airlines
American Airlines is heading into the second half of 2023 with tons of momentum after reporting record quarterly revenue of $14.1 billion in Q2. That figure marks a 4.7 percent increase year over year.

“It was another fantastic quarter for American, driven by the hard work of our team to deliver a reliable operation for our customers and the continued strong demand for our product,” American’s CEO Robert Isom said.

“Our operation is performing at historically strong levels, and we have worked to refresh our fleet and build a comprehensive global network, all of which helped to produce record revenues in the second quarter. We will build on this momentum the rest of the year and continue to prioritize reliability, profitability, accountability and strengthening our balance sheet.”

Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines has raised its full-year profit outlook after its Q2 earnings bested the estimates on Wall Street.

“You’re going to see continued strong international growth everywhere,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian told Reuters. “The domestic environment is going to be quite resilient as well.”

Delta reported an adjusted profit of $2.68 per share for the second quarter and now expects adjusted earnings of $6-$7 per share this year, compared with its previous forecast of $5-$6 per share.

Looking ahead to Q3, Delta is anticipating earnings in the range of $2.20-$2.50 per share while revenue for the quarter ending September is estimated to be up between 11 percent and 14 percent compared to last year.

Frontier Airlines
Frontier Airlines posted its highest post-pandemic earnings before tax in the second quarter of 2023, with pre-tax income reaching $88 million.

The carrier’s total operating revenue for the three months ended June 30 was $967 million and ancillary revenue per passenger for the second quarter was $80, six percent higher than the same quarter in 2022.

“Results this quarter reflect strong execution by Team Frontier. Our earnings before tax delivered our highest post-pandemic, pre-tax margin on 36 percent capacity growth and 35 additional aircraft compared to the 2019 quarter, and we delivered a five percent improvement in non-fuel adjusted unit costs over the prior-year quarter,” Frontier President and CEO Barry Biffle said in a statement.

JetBlue
Like most airlines in today’s climate, JetBlue turned quite a profit in the second quarter and bested Wall Street estimates. The carrier reported operating revenue of $2.6 billion for the second quarter of 2023, up 6.7 percent year-over-year.

What’s more, adjusted net income for the second quarter came in at $152 million or $0.45 per share.

“Thanks to the hard work of our fantastic Crewmembers, we generated our highest quarterly profit since 2019, demonstrating the progress we have made since the pandemic,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said in a statement. “These results were underpinned by record quarterly revenues and strong operational performance, reflecting the benefits from our significant investments and robust preparations for the peak summer travel period.”

Despite the positive period, JetBlue is updating its full-year outlook after the end of its lucrative Northeast Alliance with American Airlines.

“Looking ahead, we are updating our full-year earnings outlook to reflect near-term headwinds related to the termination of the NEA, a challenging operating environment in the northeast and a greater than expected shift of pent-up COVID demand to long-haul international markets which is pressuring demand for domestic travel during the peak summer travel period,” Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s President Chief Operating Officer, said in a statement.

“While we remain on track to deliver a profitable year and record revenue performance, we are taking action, including redeploying capacity to mitigate these current challenges and improve margins.”

Southwest Airlines
Despite its well-publicized struggles amid this summer’s surging demand, low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines had a monumental second quarter, reporting record quarterly operating revenues of $7 billion.

“We are pleased to report a solid quarter amid continued strong demand. We generated all-time record quarterly operating revenues, produced a very strong operational performance, and delivered healthy net income,” said Southwest President and CEO Bob Jordan in a statement last month.

“Based on current revenue and cost trends, we expect record operating revenue and a profitable outlook again for the third quarter 2023 and continue to expect year-over-year margin expansion for full year 2023.”

United Airlines
United Airlines’ second quarter was a lucrative one as the carrier achieved the highest quarterly adjusted earnings per share and second-quarter adjusted pre-tax margin in company history.

The airline anticipates the powerful quarter to propel full-year 2023 adjusted earnings per share to $11 to $12, up from previous guidance of $10 to $12.

“The United team persevered through an unprecedented series of events at the end of last month. They are the best in the business and we’re focused on the important changes we can make, especially in Newark, to serve our customers even better,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. “United’s financial performance in the second quarter and our outlook for the remainder of the year and beyond make it clear that United Next is working and is the right strategy at the right time. Our focus now is on executing that strategy well – because we know it will deliver huge benefits for our customers, our employees and our owners.”