Sept 12 (Askume) – Alaska Airlines Group (ALK.N) raised its third-quarter profit forecast on Thursday, citing strong summer travel demand and a global network outage that stranded passengers in July after flights were cancelled.
A software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD.O) caused network outages, forcing airlines to halt flight operations and stranding thousands of passengers across the country.
However, it also benefited airlines that were not as badly affected and led to a surge in rebookings from affected passengers.
Alaska Airlines shares rose 1.6% in premarket trading.
Major US airlines also experienced strong demand throughout the summer travel season, helping them boost revenues.
Last week, rival JetBlue raised its third-quarter revenue forecast , citing gains from outage-related rebookings .
Alaska Airlines now expects profit of $2.15 to $2.25 per share for the quarter, compared with the company’s previous forecast of $1.40 to $1.60.
The airline also expects fuel costs to decline in the September quarter due to softening of jet fuel prices.
