While American Airlines yesterday reported positive results year to date, capacity remains an issue as domestic airlines continue to struggle with pilot and staffing shortages. American will continue to fly below 2019 capacity levels in the third quarter, but nevertheless, projects increased revenues resulting from higher fares. Delta, United, and American have now all reported Q2 profits due to a strong travel rebound and higher fares.
American reported its second-quarter 2022 financial results, including:
- Second-quarter net income of $476 million, or $0.68 per diluted share.
- Record second-quarter revenue of $13.4 billion, which represents a 12.2% increase over the same period in 2019, despite flying 8.5% less capacity.
- Ended the second quarter with $15.6 billion of total available liquidity.
“We are very pleased to report a quarterly profit, excluding net special items, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, driven by the strong demand environment and the hard work of our team,” said American’s CEO Robert Isom. “The American Airlines team has stepped up to meet the surge in demand for air travel while running a reliable operation in very challenging conditions. We are encouraged by the trends we’re seeing across the business, and we remain well-positioned for the continued recovery.”
American produced revenues of $13.4 billion in the second quarter, a 12.2% increase versus 2019 and a record for any quarter in company history. This record revenue was achieved while flying 8.5% less capacity than the same period in 2019. The company stated there remains significant revenue potential going forward to the extent business and international travel improve further.
Domestic leisure travel remains very strong and surpassed 2019 levels in the second quarter and American also saw improvements in corporate and government revenue in the quarter. Demand for international travel also improved steadily during the second quarter and the company expects this to continue following the lifting of the COVID-19 testing requirement for inbound travel to the U.S.