The COVID-19 pandemic has crushed air travel demand in 2020, putting profits far out of reach for U.S. airlines. Instead, airlines have turned their focus to minimizing cash burn so that they can live to fight another day.
This week, Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK), United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL), and Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA) all updated investors on their cash burn expectations for the third quarter. For the most part, the numbers are moving in the right direction. Let's take a look.
Last month, Alaska Air reported that it burned $175 million of cash in July. While this exceeded its June cash burn, it was somewhat better than management's initial projection for monthly cash burn of $200 million.