Brunell: Alaska Airlines performance unsurpassed

In 2016, Alaska was J.D. Power’s choice for “highest customer satisfaction among traditional carriers in North America” for the ninth straight year. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal again named it the No. 1 overall U.S. carrier, an award it has won every year since 2013, but now Delta has moved into second place.

U.S. News and World Report ranked Alaska’s mileage plan as the best rewards program for 2016-17, and the International Council on Clean Transportation said it was the “Most Fuel Efficient U.S. Airline from 2011-15.” The list is lengthy, but the Federal Aviation Administration’s Diamond Award of Excellence is one every air carrier covets.

A decade ago, regional airlines, such as Alaska, were supposed to fade away or be grabbed up by the big guys. Some industry analysts believed Alaska would not withstand the pressure from low-cost carriers such as Southwest.

In fact, the opposite happened. Alaska keeps growing, and industry pioneers, namely TWA, Continental and Northwest, vanished.

Air Transport World stated: “In many respects, Alaska Airlines is the David of a consolidated U.S. airlines industry now dominated by Goliaths who control more than 80 percent of the domestic capacity … But this Seattle-based, fiercely independent carrier is not daunted by the challenges of maintaining its leading place in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.”

ATW said “Alaska Airlines is a carrier that certainly won’t win awards for patience. ‘If it doesn’t exist, invent it,’ seems to be the modus operandi of the airlines.” Its example is Alaska developed the advanced onboard navigation system that allows pilots to fly safely into terrain and weather-challenged airports such as the one in Juneau.

Just as other iconic Washington companies are known for innovation, it has been vital to Alaska Air. Alaska revolutionized on-line ticketing and check-in. At airports, it relies upon passenger-friendly kiosks to move fliers quickly through check-in to boarding flights.

If a problem develops, Alaska moves rapidly to solve it. When it started slipping in baggage performance, Alaska began bar-coding every bag going on planes. Rather than awaiting bags to be sorted at terminals, Alaska loads carts from arriving flights and delivers them directly to aircraft to transfer onto connecting flights.

Alaska Air Group faces challenges ahead as it brings Virgin America into its fold. It is never easy merging corporate cultures; however, Virgin America is also a top performer. It ranked third in WSJ’s 2016 scorecard for overall airline performance.

The bottom line is if the past is an indicator of future success, Alaska will turn problems into opportunities and remain atop the performance charts.

Don Brunell, retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, is a business analyst, writer, and columnist. He lives in Vancouver and can be contacted at TheBrunells@msn.com.