American Airlines Group vs Alaska Air Group
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The short version
- American Airlines Group is the larger business, with $54.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $14.2B for Alaska Air Group, about 3.8 times as much.
- Alaska Air Group grew revenue faster (21.3%, against 0.8%).
- American Airlines Group kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (2.7% operating margin, against 2.1%).
- Alaska Air Group turned more of its sales into free cash flow (6.6% FCF margin, against −1.2%).
- American Airlines Group earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (5.7%, against 2.9%).
| Latest fiscal year | AAL · FY25 | ALK · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $8.0B | $3.8B |
| Revenue | $54.6B | $14.2B |
| Free cash flow | −$680M | $940M |
| Net income | $111M | $100M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 0.8% | 21.3% |
| 5-year growth | 25.8% | 31.9% |
| Share count change | −8.4% | −6.6% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 2.7% | 2.1% |
| Net margin | 0.2% | 0.7% |
| FCF margin | −1.2% | 6.6% |
| Return on capital | 5.7% | 2.9% |
| Return on equity | — | 2.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $19.4B | $3.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.3x | 3.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $570M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | — |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 5 |
Revenue
FY16
AAL $40.1B
ALK $5.9B
FY17
AAL $42.6B
ALK $7.9B
FY18
AAL $44.5B
ALK $8.3B
FY19
AAL $45.8B
ALK $8.8B
FY20
AAL $17.3B
ALK $3.6B
FY21
AAL $29.9B
ALK $6.2B
FY22
AAL $49.0B
ALK $9.6B
FY23
AAL $52.8B
ALK $10.4B
FY24
AAL $54.2B
ALK $11.7B
FY25
AAL $54.6B
ALK $14.2B
AAL
ALK
Operating margin
FY16
AAL 12.6%
ALK 22.0%
FY17
AAL 9.9%
ALK 15.3%
FY18
AAL 6.0%
ALK 7.8%
FY19
AAL 6.7%
ALK 12.1%
FY20
AAL −60.1%
ALK −49.8%
FY21
AAL −3.5%
ALK 11.1%
FY22
AAL 3.3%
ALK 0.7%
FY23
AAL 5.8%
ALK 3.8%
FY24
AAL 4.8%
ALK 4.9%
FY25
AAL 2.7%
ALK 2.1%
AAL
ALK
Free cash flow
FY16
AAL $793M
ALK $708M
FY17
AAL −$1.2B
ALK $564M
FY18
AAL −$212M
ALK $235M
FY19
AAL −$453M
ALK $1.0B
FY20
AAL −$8.5B
ALK −$456M
FY21
AAL $496M
ALK $738M
FY22
AAL −$373M
ALK −$253M
FY23
AAL $1.2B
ALK −$444M
FY24
AAL $1.3B
ALK $1.2B
FY25
AAL −$680M
ALK $940M
AAL
ALK
Return on capital
FY16
AAL 16.8%
ALK 26.8%
FY17
AAL 12.7%
ALK 23.4%
FY18
AAL 12.4%
ALK 10.6%
FY19
AAL 13.5%
ALK 18.0%
FY20
AAL −48.8%
ALK −37.7%
FY21
AAL −5.2%
ALK 16.4%
FY22
AAL 6.5%
ALK 1.5%
FY23
AAL 13.0%
ALK 6.8%
FY24
AAL 12.5%
ALK 7.1%
FY25
AAL 5.7%
ALK 2.9%
AAL
ALK
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.