Alaska Air Group prepares for prolonged uncertainty

Alaska Air Group is joining airlines worldwide in its efforts to rework its business as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in place over much of the globe, and demand patterns are even more unpredictable than ever.

For now, the company appears to be sticking to its previous guidance that its capacity will fall approximately 50% year-on-year in 3Q2020. Whether Alaska's plans to be 35% smaller year-on-year in Oct-2020 will come about is yet to be revealed, or if it will need to refine its capacity plans in light of continued uncertainty in demand.

The company has rationally concluded that the key to unlocking the underlying desire by the general public to travel is cooperation through behaviours, such as mask wearing and improvements to deliver faster testing methods. The airline believes that type of collective social responsibility could be one element of driving an increase in demand.