Alaska Air Says Bag Fee Worth USD$70 Mln

Alaska Air Group said Friday that a fee it began charging passengers this month for a first checked bag was expected to add USD$70 million or more to annual revenue.

The parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air also said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the fee, which it began charging on July 7, was expected to add about USD$30 million in revenue for its second half.

In its investor update, Alaska Air also said it expects revenue per available seat mile (RASM) to be down 6 percent to 7 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier for Alaska Airlines.

The company added that a modification of Alaska Airlines' affinity card agreement with Bank of America was expected to result in about USD$15 million of incremental revenue that it expects to record for June, pending a final accounting review.

It said the impact of the card agreement change was not included in its RASM forecast.

Alaska Air also noted that it has reached agreements with Boeing and Bombardier to defer firm aircraft deliveries to future periods.