Alaska Airlines' Seasonal Flights To Meet Summer Demand

In a bid to cope with the anticipated rush during the upcoming summer season, Alaska Airlines, the wholly owned subsidiary of Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) has started offering non-stop flights connecting Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon. The flights are operating on a daily basis from May 22 until Aug 26.

Notably, Alaska Airlines is utilizing the fuel-efficient Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 planes for operating the flights. In fact, Alaska Air Group is on an expansion spree ever since it acquired Virgin America in late 2016.

We expect, the introduction of the new seasonal service to find favor among passengers in the route as it widens their choices for travel with the summer season fast approaching. We remind investors that Airlines for America (‘A4A’) – the trade organization for leading U.S. airlines – recently projected that the summer of 2017 will be the busiest one of all times for American carriers in terms of air travel.

Apart from the above update, Alaska Airlines was also in the news when it announced a frequent flyer partnership with European carrier Finnair. This customer friendly move aims to provide the members of the program, at Alaska as well as Finnair, the opportunity to earn miles/points on flights of either carrier. In fact, Finnair is expected to start its West Coast service to Helsinki from Alaska Airlines’ San Francisco hub from June this year.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Alaska Air Group carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the airline space include United Continental Holdings (NYSE:UAL) , Deutsche Lufthansa (OTC:DLAKY) and Ryanair Holdings (NASDAQ:RYAAY) sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

We note that shares of Lufthansa, Ryanair and United Continental have gained 41.8%, 21% and 8.3%, respectively, on a year-to-date basis.

Zacks' 2017 IPO Watch List

Before looking into the stocks mentioned above, you may want to get a head start on potential tech IPOs that are popping up on Zacks' radar. Imagine being in the first wave of investors to jump on a company with almost unlimited growth potential? This Special Report gives you the current scoop on 5 that may go public at any time.

One has driven from 0 to a $68 billion valuation in 8 years. Four others are a little less obvious but already show jaw-dropping growth. Download this IPO Watch List today for free >>