US investment grade airlines deliver consistent returns, and pledge to continue full steam ahead

It is no surprise that the two US investment grade airlines have recorded the most consistent shareholder returns during the past few years. Neither Alaska Air Group nor Southwest Airlines shows signs of slowing their shareholder reward schemes, reflected in Southwest doubling its dividend in May-2014 and Alaska's consistent share repurchases and dividend pay-outs in 2013 and 2014.

The two other US hybrid airlines Hawaiian and JetBlue have less definitive plans for the form their shareholder returns will take. But reflecting the increasingly vocal base of US airline shareholders, Hawaiian has declared it would outline some form of capital allocation by YE2014.

JetBlue appears to be the one US airline furthest away from offering a timeframe and structure of its shareholder rewards; but it is likely to be top of the airline's agenda as a new CEO takes the helm in Feb-2015.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series examining US airline shareholder returns.