Skift Take
Despite taking a hit from the Max 9 grounding, Alaska Airlines saw an uptick in travel demand, fueled by a full return of business travel.
Even as the grounding of the Max 9 prompted Alaska Airlines to cancel thousands of flights in January, the carrier came out relatively unscathed in the first quarter. And that’s partly because its business travel fully recovered to 2019 levels.
Alaska reported a net loss, but without the grounding, it would have eked out a small profit of $5 million.
The first three months of the year are typically difficult for airlines. Leisure travel is down, and post-pandemic, business travel has been at a standstill. But that now seems to be changing.
Andrew Harrison, Alaska’s chief commercial officer, said busines