Alaska Airlines expects cargo revenue to reach $750 million by 2030 as it builds on its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines to diversify and scale its cargo business through international route expansion and planned intra-island freighter service in Hawaii, executives told investors on Wednesday.

The Seattle-based carrier has completed most of the heavy integration work — a unified cargo booking system and a single operating certificate — and is now shifting from domestic operator to international airline. Cargo sits at the center of what management calls the value-creation phase, alongside premium travel and the loyalty program.

The numbers already reflect the step change. After closing the Hawaiian merger in September 2024, Alaska's cargo revenue grew 57% to $549 million last year. The comparison flatters the result because merged figures are measured against a mostly standalone Alaska performance, but the opportunity set has clearly widened: Hawaiian gave Alaska its first entry into widebody passenger aircraft and long-haul international routes. In the first half of 2026, cargo revenue reached $316 million, putting the business on track for more than $600 million for the full year with the peak shipping season still ahead.

The international network is where the unit economics improve. Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK) currently serves five international destinations — Tokyo, Seoul, London and Rome among them — and will add Paris and Athens from its Seattle hub next year. Management expects to fly to 15 international destinations by 2030, most in strong industrial economies with large trade flows. The Boeing 787-9s deployed on those routes offer significant lower-deck container capacity, and cargo yields run higher over long distances than on short-haul domestic sectors.

"Cargo contributes as much as 20% of flight revenue on transpacific routes, creating meaningful revenue enhancement without additional aircraft. Collectively, these businesses produce margins that are twice the system average, making cargo an important contributor to our long-term financial targets," said Ian Morgan, vice president of cargo, during the live-streamed event.

The freighter fleet is growing in parallel. Alaska currently operates three Boeing 737-700 converted freighters and two larger 737-800 passenger-to-freighter aircraft in its domestic network. For years, those jets primarily connected Alaska's remote communities to the Seattle hub and lower-48 export markets, generating a modest $130 million to $150 million annually. In late July, the airline disclosed plans to lease four additional 737-800 converted freighters, with two earmarked for dedicated intra-island service from Honolulu, painted in a Hawaiian Air Cargo livery.

The freighters give Alaska leverage in two captive markets. In its home state, the carrier holds a 37% share and sees a path to 50% as more 737-800 freighters arrive, competing against Northern Air Cargo and Lynden Air Cargo. Hawaii presents a similar opportunity from a much smaller base: Alaska holds just 6% of the interisland cargo market, where it faces Southwest and Aloha Air Cargo.

"By adding dedicated freighter service, leveraging Hawaiian's brand, loyal customer base, and applying the operating model we have refined in Alaska, we see a path towards 50% share," Morgan said. "We're not creating demand that doesn't exist. We're leveraging assets, capabilities, expertise we already possess and applying them to an underpenetrated market with significant growth potential."

The Amazon operation adds another revenue stream. Alaska inherited Hawaiian's contract flying Airbus A330-300 freighters for Amazon — the e-commerce giant supplies the aircraft while Alaska provides crews, maintenance and insurance. Alaska now operates 11 Amazon freighters and renegotiated the transportation contract earlier this year on more favorable terms.

"Cargo allows us to fully monetize our assets across the network. As we grow internationally, optimize fleet deployment and leverage a combined Alaska and Hawaiian footprint, cargo becomes an increasingly meaningful contributor to both revenue growth and margin expansion," Morgan said.

Context matters when benchmarking cargo's 2.6% share of Alaska's total revenue against peers. Major U.S. carriers run huge international networks, generate three to four times Alaska's total revenue and operate no freighters. Southwest, with a mostly domestic, all-narrowbody network, offers the closest comparison: its 2025 cargo revenue was $171 million, or 0.6% of total revenue. United Airlines leads U.S. passenger carriers in cargo with $1.8 billion, a 3% share of total revenue.

For shippers and forwarders, the expansion signals more belly capacity on transpacific and transatlantic lanes out of Seattle and dedicated intra-island freighter capacity in Hawaii — the latter a direct challenge to incumbent Aloha Air Cargo and Southwest's belly offering on interisland lanes.

The broader merger integration is two-thirds of the way toward Alaska's target of $1 billion in incremental profit and $10 earnings per share, a goal CFO Shane Tackett said the airline expects to reach by the end of 2027. Headwinds include the spike in jet fuel prices, inflation's drag on consumer demand, massive flooding in Hawaii and global economic uncertainty. Alaska lost $76 million in the second quarter versus a $172 million profit a year earlier.

With four more freighters arriving, two new Europe routes launching next year and peak-season cargo revenue tracking above $600 million, the trajectory toward the $750 million target by 2030 will depend largely on how quickly the Honolulu-based freighter operation can take share in a market Alaska has barely penetrated.