Earlier this month, an Alaska 737 MAX 9 aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after a cabin panel fell off during a flight full of passengers. The Federal Aviation Administration subsequently grounded over 170 MAX 9 jets across carriers.
Including the impact, the airline forecast 2024 adjusted earnings per share to be between $3.00 and $5.00. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected a profit of $4.93 this year.
Alaska also cast doubt on its capacity growth target of 3% to 5% this year, saying: "Given the grounding, and the potential for future delivery delays, the Company expects capacity growth to be at or below the lower end of this range."
The airline swung to a fourth-quarter loss, from a year-ago profit, hurt by an increase in fuel and labor expenses.
The U.S. aviation regulator lifted the grounding on Wednesday, but also barred Boeing from expanding production of its best-selling 737 MAX narrowbody planes, which is expected to have wide-ranging effects across the industry.
Alaska executives are set to address investors and analysts later in the day. The airline placed orders for 42 737-10 and 10 737-9 jets in 2022, as part of a plan to sunset Airbus (AIR.PA) aircraft by the end of 2023.
Alaska and United Airlines (UAL.O) together account for 70% of Boeing's MAX 9 fleet and had been forced to cancel thousands of flights in the wake of the incident.
The groundings had no impact on the company's results for the October-December quarter, during which its revenue rose nearly 3%, to $2.55 billion, due to strong travel demand.
However, an increase in labor and fuel-related costs pushed Alaska to a loss of $2 million, or 2 cents per share for the quarter, from a profit of $22 million, or 17 cents per share, a year ago.
