Jet Fuel Price Dropping, Alaska Airlines Stocks Soaring

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By David Koenig. Leaders of United and Southwest gave an upbeat forecast for 2015 that combined strong travel demand and cheaper fuel. Alaska Airlines, citing a strong outlook and record adjusted earnings, raised its dividend by 60 percent. Airline stocks soared on Thursday.

The price of jet fuel has dropped by about half since September, boosting airline profits and tamping down fear that global economic weakness could hurt the carriers. Analysts expect all four of the biggest U.S. airline operators — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Continental and Southwest, to post bigger profits this year than in 2014.

United Continental predicted first-quarter profit margins higher than many analysts had expected. (Read more about the jet fuel price dropping HERE)

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Delta Air Lines’ “Seattle Invasion” has Failed to Displace Alaska Airlines

By Steve Wilhelm. If you thought the Seattle invasion by Delta Air Lines would dislodge Seattle-based Alaska Air Group, think again.

Alaska reported record profit and decreasing costs for the fourth quarter, and executives struck a note of confidence during the earnings call Thursday.

Alaska Air Group, which includes Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, reported a record $571 million in net 2014 income excluding special items, up 49 percent from the year before. Alaska’s passenger revenue grew 7 percent for the year.

“Alaska has real and durable competitive advantages that will help us sustain these results going forward,” said Brandon Pedersen, chief financial officer. “We’re safe, we run an excellent operation, we offer
award-winning service, have really loyal customers, a great network, low costs, a modern fuel-efficient fleet, a strong balance sheet, and engaged employees.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Alaskan Court Overturns Man’s Conviction in ‘Last Seduction’

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Photo Credit: Kiskadee 3The Alaska Court of Appeals has overturned the murder conviction of a man charged with killing his romantic rival at the urging of the woman they both hoped to marry.

The court on Wednesday reversed the murder conviction for John Carlin III, who was convicted in 2006 of killing Kent Leppink on an isolated trail about in a small community south of Anchorage 10 years earlier. The case went unsolved until Alaska State Troopers reopened it in 2004.

Prosecutors had claimed he was coaxed into killing Leppink by the woman at the center of the romantic triangle, Mechele Linehan, an exotic dancer who lived with the two men in Anchorage.

Prosecutors maintained she was inspired by the 1994 movie, “The Last Seduction,” in which a femme fatale coaxes her lover into killing her husband for money. (Read more about what the Alaskan court did HERE)

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State of Alaska Ignores Canadian Threat, Goes Forward with Project

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Photo Credit: CBC News Alaska is refusing to budge after the Harper government issued a legal threat over the state’s plan to build on Canadian soil with exclusively American iron and steel.

In fact, the Alaskans insisted Tuesday that they’re moving ahead with their project to build a new ferry terminal in British Columbia — protectionist provisions and all.

This week, the Canadian government took the unusual step of signing a legal order to prevent Alaska from imposing “Buy American” policies on the construction work in the B.C. coastal city of Prince Rupert.

International Trade Minister Ed Fast went on the offensive after the state rejected Ottawa’s demands that it abandon a rule requiring the Prince Rupert project to use only U.S.-made materials.

The rarely used Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act would enable Ottawa to impose fines and take legal action against the project’s winning bidder if it complies with the Buy American provisions. (Read more from “Alaska Ignores Canadian Threat” HERE)

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Man Dies From 1,000 Foot Fall in Alaska

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Alaska State Troopers say an Oregon man died while climbing Mount Yukla.

Dasan Marshall of Portland, Oregon, was climbing with a friend Sunday when he fell about 1,000 feet, troopers said.

Because of the terrain in the Chugach Mountains about 6 miles from the Eagle River Nature Center, a helicopter was used to recover Marshall’s body. The body was taken to the state medical examiner’s office.

No foul play was suspected. (Read more about the man who died from the 1,000 foot fall in Alaska HERE)

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Despite Falling Oil Prices, Alaska LNG Going Forward

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The recent free-fall of crude oil prices has affected markets across the globe. Energy companies have responded by scaling back investments as their available capital shrinks. In British Columbia, delays are hampering the Pacific Northwest LNG project. Likewise, in Texas, a liquefaction project has been suspended off its coast by Excelerate Energy. Yet, meanwhile, Alaska is moving forward on an ambitious infrastructure project to develop and export its North Slope gas reserves.

Alaska’s resources are unique. The state receives approximately ninety percent of its revenue from taxes on oil production, leaving the budget vulnerable to price fluxes. Amid tumbling oil prices, Alaska could now face a projected deficit of almost $3.5 billion, opposed to a projected $1 billion deficit last year. State leaders have responded by tightening the state’s fiscal belt, with the newly elected Governor Bill Walker announcing projected cuts to six ongoing state projects.

Despite those cuts, however, state leaders are wisely continuing the Alaska LNG project. This project would be the first to capitalize upon the vast Alaska North Slope gas reserves at Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson. With the necessary investment upwards of $65 billon, the effort would be the largest infrastructure project in North American history and would create thousands of construction and long-term operations jobs for hardworking Alaskans. And, perhaps most important for the state, the Alaska LNG project will provide a longstanding stable source of revenue.

Nonetheless, recent actions by Governor Walker are stirring concerns for project supporters. During his campaign, the Governor promised support for the project. Yet last week, he announced the unexpected dismissal of three Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) board members, the state body charged with moving negotiations with major producers forward to build the Alaska LNG project. Moreover, he penned a recent article suggesting the state’s recently reformed oil tax structure was unfair, despite perpetual assurances during his campaign to respect the will of his constituents who voted in August to approve the reformed tax.

Most distressing, however, is his broken promise to drop the lawsuit over the Point Thomson project settlement. As a state political writer noted, “Despite what he said…Walker has not dropped the suit, and is in ‘no hurry’ to remove himself, he said through his spokesperson Grace Jang.” (Read more about the Alaska LNG going forward HERE)

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Alaska Air and Jet Blue Among Safest Airlines in the World; JetBlue adds Portland-Alaska Route

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By Paul Ausick. Given the number of lives lost in 2014 due to airplane crashes, it may seem a bit cynical to review a report on airline safety. However, an airline safety rating website recently announced its list of the world’s safest airlines for 2015, and we noted that two U.S. carriers are among the safest carriers in the world.

The AirlineRatings.com website listed both a top 10 and a low-cost top 10, made up from the staff’s review of the 449 airlines they monitor. The two U.S. carriers that made the top 10 list of low-cost carriers are Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) and JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU). Other global low-cost carriers on the list, in alphabetical order, include Aer Lingus, Icelandair, Jetstar, Kulula.com, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, TUI Fly and Westjet.

Among the legacy carriers the top 10, in alphabetical order, were Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines. The U.S. legacy carriers American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL), Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) and United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) all posted the highest possible score (7 of 7 possible stars). Four other U.S. carriers that do not fly foreign routes scored 5 of 5 possible stars: Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT), Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), Spirit Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: SAVE) and Frontier Airlines. (Read more about the safest airline in the world HERE)

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JetBlue Adds Anchorage Route

By Ben Mutzabaugh. JetBlue will increase its presence in Portland, adding a fourth nonstop route from the Oregon airport.

The route will be seasonal offering to Anchorage. JetBlue will begin offering daily nonstop service on the route on June 18. The 3-½ hour flights, to be operated on Airbus A320 jets, will run through Sept. 8.

JetBlue will compete head-to-head on the route with Alaska Airlines, which already flies the route. Alaska Airlines operates its second-busiest base at Portland.

Anchorage will become JetBlue’s fourth destination from Portland International (PDX). JetBlue also flies nonstop from PDX to its hubs at Boston and New York JFK as well as to Long Beach, Calif., which is a focus city for the carrier. (Read more from this story HERE)

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False Rape Accusation Leads to Death of Alaska Man

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Photo Credit: The Daily Caller A man was beaten to death by the boyfriend of a woman who falsely claimed he raped her in a Fairbanks, Alaska motel room on Wednesday.

The woman, 31-year-old Dominique Vasquez, reportedly did not want to admit to her boyfriend, 39-year-old Abraham Stine, that she had cheated on him and so lied about the rape . . .

She also knew that Stine had a history of violence when she lied and told him that 37-year-old Wesley Lord — who was also Stine’s cousin — raped her at a the Extended Stay Hotel in Fairbanks.

Based on that belief, Stine came into the motel room through a window and began punching and beating Lord . . . Vasquez reportedly held her hand over Lord’s mouth while he was being assaulted. (Read more about the false rape accusation HERE)

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Two Arrested for Selling Meth in Nome (KNOM)

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Photo Credit: AST

Editor’s Note: Our apologies, but KNOM (a Nome, Alaska “Catholic radio station”) has objected to our Fair Use re-posting of several paragraphs from this story. Importantly, Restoring Liberty sends tens of thousands of visitors every month to websites from which we aggregate excerpts. This drives viewers and revenue to the original publishers. Nevertheless, in line with our publishing standards, we respect the originating source’s request, although not required to do so under widely-accepted standards of Fair Use.

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Sarah Palin Fires Back at PETA Over Dog Picture

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Sarah Palin fired another shot in her unlikely war of words with the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) on Monday, accusing it of hypocrisy and asserting that liberals feel no compunction about attacking even special-needs children and puppy trainers.

Palin and Peta are at odds over a photo posted on the former Alaska governor’s Facebook page, which shows her six-year-old son, Trig, who has Down’s syndrome, stepping on the back of the family’s service dog, Jill Hadassah, to reach the kitchen counter.

“Kiss my okole” was Palin’s Hawaiian-tinged response to criticism from Peta and angry online onlookers. She alerted readers to what she sees as the true obsession of such critics: “They’re attacking me because, well, I’m me.”

“Where have [Peta] been all these years?” Palin asked in a statement to NBC News, before suggesting the activists were hypocrites for having praised public figures previously accused of malfeasance toward animals.

First, Palin repeated a charge about Peta’s 2009 Woman of the Year, comedian Ellen DeGeneres, over a photo of a toddler standing on a dog that appeared last year on the Facebook page for her TV show and about which Palin said Peta had not passed comment. (Read more about Sarah Palin hammering her critics HERE)

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Three Men Free Moose Trapped in Avalanche

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Photo Credit: Fox News There’s an extra moose alive in southcentral Alaska thanks to three snowmobilers who freed it from an avalanche.

Marty Mobley, Rob Uphus and Avery Vucinich, residents of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, on Sunday went riding on the west side of Hatcher Pass about 55 miles northeast of Anchorage, Alaska Dispatch News reported. With Alaska’s unseasonably warm weather, they were wary of avalanches, Mobley said.

They came upon a hillside that had both moose tracks and ski tracks. The latter stood out because they don’t see many skiers in the area.

Mobley spotted something brown moving in the hard-packed snow of the debris field.

“It looked like a guy’s arm at first because we were expecting to see a skier,” Mobley said. “But it was moaning and groaning and moving and we realized it was a moose, even though only his ears and some of its snout was sticking out of the snow.” (Read more about the moose trapped in the avalanche HERE)

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