Alaska Airlines President Wants Competitors to Stop Dumping Cheap Seats
Photo Credit: A Horizon Air turboprop on the ground. Horizon is a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines
Skift Take
Consumers probably would love it if airlines sold more seats than they could reasonably fill because they would see bargain fares. But a race to the bottom could be disastrous for the industry. The situation is bad enough as it is. If airlines must compete by selling bargain fares, some carriers would be in peril.
A top Alaska Airlines executive obliquely warned competitors on Thursday of the dangers of adding too many flights before a real recovery begins, suggesting they could cause lasting damage to the economic fortunes of U.S. carriers.
"We're in the midst of the biggest demand contraction in the history of our industry," Alaska President Ben Minicucci said on the airline's second quarter earnings call. "As we all know, there are far too many seats flying today for the demand that currently exists. Adding capacity back in a disciplined manner is important for the health of the industry and is critical to our company's cash break-even goals."
It has been about five years since U.S. airline executives regularly spoke about "discipline" on earnings calls. Most stopped saying the word after the U.S. Department of Justice began investigating whether airlines were illegally signaling
