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Group Inc. said travel demand remained strong in the third quarter, even as the airline charged more to fly and the industry faced challenges throughout the summer that disrupted travel plans.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based company said Thursday that its quarterly revenue was 13% higher than the same period in 2019, while flying capacity was down 9.6% amid a cut in flights.
Chief Executive
Robert Isom
said demand for travel remains strong as Americans and others throughout the world look to resurrect travel plans as the effects of the pandemic wane.
The company said demand for domestic flights and short-haul international travel remains very strong, while the recovery of long-haul international flights is expected to get an additional boost as more Covid-19 travel restrictions and test requirements fade.
American Airlines said it expects to ramp its flying capacity up closer to prepandemic levels in the current quarter. It expects fourth-quarter revenue to be 11% to 13% higher than the same period in 2019 on 5% to 7% lower flying capacity. It also expects adjusted earnings to be between 50 cents a share and 70 cents a share, topping expectations.
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, American Airlines posted earnings of $483 million, or 69 cents a share, compared with $169 million, or 25 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting earnings of 54 cents a share.
Revenue surged 50% to $13.46 billion, topping Wall Street expectations of $13.37 billion. The better-than-expected revenue came even as American Airlines flew at 9.6% less capacity than it did in 2019, the company said.
Shares of American Airlines rose almost 2.6% in premarket trading Thursday. As of Wednesday’s close, the stock was down 22% so far this year.
Earlier Thursday,
Alaska Air Group Inc.
posted better-than-expected revenue but surging fuel costs sent profit tumbling. The company also said nonfuel costs for the full year will rise more than it previously expected due to new labor agreements.
earlier this week said it expects resilient demand for air travel to continue to drive profit through the end of the year.
Delta Air Lines Inc.
said last week that corporate sales got a boost after Labor Day and climbed to about 80% of 2019 levels by the end of September.
Write to Will Feuer at [email protected]
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