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LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / January 29, 2018 / Active-Investors.com has just released a free research report on Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE: ALK) (“Air Group”). If you want access to this report all you need to do is sign up now by clicking the following link www.active-investors.com/registration-sg/?symbol=ALK as the Company's latest news hit the wire. On January 26, 2018, the Company announced that its group companies Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, and Horizon Air will be paying approximately $118 million in incentive bonuses to their employees. Additionally, nearly 23,000 Air Group's employees will be receiving the previously announced one-time $1,000 bonus, which is payable on January 29, 2018. Register today and get access to over 1,000 Free Research Reports by joining our site below:

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Active-Investors.com is currently working on the research report for Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), which also belongs to the Services sector as the Company Alaska Air. Do not miss out and become a member today for free to access this upcoming report at:

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Active-Investors.com is focused on giving you timely information and the inside line on companies that matter to you. This morning, Alaska Air Group most recent news is on our radar and our team decided to put out a fantastic report on the company that is now available for free below:

www.active-investors.com/registration-sg/?symbol=ALK

Commenting on the payment of bonus to employees, Ben Minicucci, Alaska Airlines' President and COO, said:

“In light of so many important achievements in the last year, including meeting several integration milestones, I'd like to thank all 23,000 employees at Alaska, Virgin America, Horizon and McGee Air Services for their hard work and laser-like focus on safety. It's an honor to work alongside such dedicated, committed employees who deliver outstanding service to our guests every day.”

Details of the Bonus Payment

Employees of Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, and Horizon Air are expected to receive $118 million on January 26, 2018. This translates to an average of over 7% of the annual pay for 2017, or an additional month's pay for most of the employees. This annual bonus paid to Air Group's employees is termed as Performance Based Pay (PBP) and is payable when the said Company meets or exceeds previously set goals in terms of safety, customer satisfaction, cost control, customer loyalty, and profit. This is the ninth consecutive year when all Air Group's employees are set to receive the PBP. The PBP is over and above the approximately $7 million in monthly operational bonuses that were paid to employees in 2017 for achieving monthly on-time and customer satisfaction targets.

The special one-time bonus was announced by Air Group in early January 2018 and was the result of the additional tax savings from the changes announced in the corporate tax legislation by the Trump Administration. It included employees working for Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, Horizon Air, and McGee Air Services affiliates. The one-time bonus was not payable to top management of the companies including top executive officers and managing directors.

The total outlay for Air Group in terms of annual bonuses including one-time special bonus, PBP and monthly bonuses is approximately $148 million. Out this nearly 52% of the PBP, or approximately $62 million, will be paid to employees of Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, and Horizon Air located in the Puget Sound area. Nearly 23% of the PBP, or approximately $27 million, will be paid to employees across California, $12 million will be paid to employees across Oregon, and $278.1 million will be paid to employees across the state of Alaska.

Achievement of integration targets related to the acquisition of Virgin America

The bonuses are being paid to employees after 13 months of completing the acquisition of Virgin America. Alaska Air Group completed the acquisition of Virgin America in December 2016. In this timeframe of 13 months, the employees of both Alaska Airlines and Virgin America have together achieved major integration milestones which include:

• Getting a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on January 11, 2018. This means that the FAA recognizes Alaska and Virgin America as one airline;

• Air Group showcased new West Coast-inspired, custom-designed uniform collection for all Air Group's uniformed employees and has launched a wear-test for these new uniforms;

• Moved to a single loyalty and credit card program;

• Combining operations of Alaska Airlines and Virgin America in 22 of 31 airports;

• Addition of 44 new routes to Alaska's network over and above the 38 routes added due to the acquisition of Virgin America;

• Bringing the human resources, finance, and payroll functions of both Alaska Airlines and Virgin America on the same systems.

The Company expects to achieve nearly 75% of its integration targets by end of April 2018 including the move to a single reservation system, website, check-in kiosk, app, and call center.

Stock Performance Snapshot

January 26, 2018 - At Friday's closing bell, Alaska Air Group's stock rose 3.98%, ending the trading session at $64.54.

Volume traded for the day: 3.97 million shares, which was above the 3-month average volume of 2.19 million shares.

After last Friday's close, Alaska Air Group's market cap was at $8.05 billion.

Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio was at 10.35.

The stock has a dividend yield of 1.86%.

The stock is part of the Services sector, categorized under the Regional Airlines industry. This sector was up 1.2% at the end of the session.

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