Alaska Air Overcomes January Midair Incident as Travel Demand Surges [Video]

Shares of Alaska Air Group (ALK) took off in intraday trading Thursday after the airline posted better-than-expected results and guidance as travel demand boomed, helping to offset the effects of a January flight emergency.

The carrier reported a first-quarter adjusted loss of $116 million, or $0.92 per share, with revenue rising 1.6% to $2.23 billion. Both beat estimates.

Alaska Air’s results were impacted by a midair incident on Jan. 5 in which a door plug on a Boeing (BA) 737 Max 9 jet blew out, leading to a temporary grounding of some of the airline’s planes. Earlier this month, Alaska Air announced that Boeing had paid $160 million in compensation during the first quarter for lost revenue from the Flight 1282 incident, and in this report noted the total was actually $162 million. The carrier has indicated it expects further payments from Boeing in the future.

Alaska Air explained that its unit revenue rose …