Alaska and Horizon Says December Storms to Cost Up to $13 Million

(MoneyWatch)  Remember all those nasty winter storms that pummeled the Pacific Northwest? Well those weather problems are going to take a bite out of Alaska and Horizon's numbers for December.

In an 8-K, Alaska says that the storms caused them to reduce capacity by 2 percent in December and the total cost will be between $7 and $9 million. Ouch. Between $6 and $8 million in cost was based on passenger refunds and lost revenue. Another $2 million will come from non-fuel expenses that were incurred, but there will be a $1 million benefit in saved fuel. Horizon says passenger refunds and lost revenue will cost between $3 and $4 million. Non-fuel expenses of $1 million will be offset by fuel savings of the same amount.

They also gave us a little bit of a look into the future. Alaska says that load factors going forward are trending above last year for January by 1 point. In February they're one point behind and three points behind in March. This to me isn't anything to worry about but rather a sign of the continued compression of the booking curve as people book closer in. Horizon is actually seeing a 4 point deficit in January with 2 point deficits in both February and March. But Horizon has been making a lot of capacity changes this year, so I wouldn't put a ton of stock into these numbers just yet.