Alaska Airlines has reported an "industry-leading" full-year adjusted pretax margin of 7.6%, after recording its highest-ever annual revenue of US $9.6bn, a 10% increase on 2019.
Q4 2022 revenue came to US $2.5bn the carrier said, with reported net income for the quarter and full year, excluding special items and mark-to-market fuel hedge accounting adjustments, of US $118 million, or $0.92 per diluted share, and US $556 million, or US $4.35 per diluted share.
Employees received record bonuses during the year, with US $257 million, or around six weeks' worth of salary, shelled out by the company for "meeting or exceeding profitability, safety and emissions targets".
The airline said further it had pulled in nearly US $1.5bn in annual cash remuneration under the renewed co-brand credit card arrangement with Bank of America.
Alaska earlier announced plans to resume share repurchases in early 2023 to offset annual dilution, with the repurchases are expected to range from US $75 million to US $100 million in 2023.
It ended the year with a debt-to-capitalisation ratio of 49% after repaying US $52 million in debt in the fourth quarter and US $385 million during 2022 leaving it with US $2.4bn in unrestricted cash and marketable securities at year-end.
"2022 was a year of significant recovery and accomplishment for Alaska Airlines," said chief executive Ben Minicucci. "Despite many challenges during the year, we ran one of the best operations, signed five new labour deals, and executed the majority of our single fleet transition".
Among the highlights for the year were partnerships with taxi firm Lyft and airline Mokulele, Alaska reported. A US-first electronic bag-tag system also made headlines at time of announcement and was mentioned again by the carrier in its January 26 results.
It retired around 20 older aircraft models, as part of a fleet modernisation blueprint, and said it would purchase over 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets between 2026 and 2030.
The carrier's results suggest it could be poised to report further revenue increases in 2023. "I am confident that we are well positioned to grow, compete and out-perform in 2023," Minicucci said.