good morning, Kev,
again, the entire industry has benefitted from low fuel prices and AS' results show nothing different.
AS continues to use the strategy to grow its network using low fuel prices, just as DL and WN have done.
All 3 of those carriers have also seen their yields decrease... although since AS and WN do not serve long haul Asia, Europe, or S. America, the domestic RASM is the most meaningful comparison and on that basis, AS had the largest RASM drop of all three.
It is also noteworthy that AS' RASM drop was larger than its non-fuel CASM drop which means that it is willing to take a short term cut in profitability for every seat it produces in order to grow and defend its network.
AS has the advantage of having one of the lowest CASMs of the large jet carriers in the US and growth helps keep that CASM low. But AS has to deal with the reality that competition is increasing across its network, the same low fuel prices that are helping AS are also helping other carriers, esp. the growth of longhaul int'l flights from SEA, and SEA as an airport wants as much traffic by as many carriers as possible and will do what has to be done in order to help other competitors grow at AS' home base.
Good work by AS for sure... but there remain a lot of unanswered long-term strategic and financial questions about whether what AS is doing will work for the long haul.