What is a cash flow waterfall?

A cash flow waterfall is a bar chart that walks from operating cash flow through capital expenditure to free cash flow, then shows how the remaining cash is allocated — acquisitions, buybacks, dividends, debt, and other financing — ending at the net change in cash. Each step is colour-coded: green bars add to the running total, red bars subtract.

How does Alaska Air Group (ALK) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, Alaska Air Group generated $1.02B of operating cash flow and -$350M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of -34.3% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Alaska Air Group (ALK) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Alaska Air Group's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Alaska Air Group (ALK) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.02B

Capex

-$1.37B

Free Cash Flow

-$350M

FCF Margin

-34.3%

Cash flow waterfall for Alaska Air Group (ALK) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: -$350M

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by purchases or sales of investments.

Cash flow breakdown for Alaska Air Group (ALK) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.02B	$1.02B
Capital Expenditure	-$1.37B	-$350M
Free Cash Flow	-$350M	-$350M
Other Investing	-$141M	-$491M
Share Buybacks	-$228M	-$719M
Net Debt Change	$127M	-$592M
Other Financing & FX	$918M	$326M
Net Cash Increase	$326M	$326M

Operating Cash Flow$1.02B
Capital Expenditure-$1.37B
Free Cash Flow-$350M
Other Investing-$141M
Share Buybacks-$228M
Net Debt Change$127M
Other Financing & FX$918M
Net Cash Increase$326M

Want to see what drove the FCF change?Free Cash Flow Bridge

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