American Airlines parent AMR posts another quarterly loss
BY D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
7/18/12 at 2:30 PM
AMR Corp., the bankrupt parent of American Airlines, reported on Wednesday a second quarter loss of $241 million, or 72 cents per share, as bankruptcy reorganization costs, legal and consultants’ fees totaled $230 million in the quarter.
Officials said that without those costs, the company would have earned $95 million, its first operating profit for the early-summer quarter since 2007.
In 2011’s second quarter, AMR posted a net loss of $286 million, or 85 cents per share.
Second quarter revenue was $6.45 billion, a 5.5 percent increase compared with 2011’s second quarter revenue of $6.1 billion.
AMR Chairman and CEO Tom Horton said the company showed significant improvement in the quarter.
“Our revenue performance has topped the industry for several months, leading to our first second quarter profit in five years, excluding reorganization and special items,” Horton said. “And this improvement reflects only a fraction of our ongoing restructuring progress. While there is still much to be done, we expect this momentum to build quickly as the new American re-emerges as an industry leader.”
The company’s second quarter expenses were $6.3 billion, an 1.9 percent increase from 2011’s second expenses of $6.19 billion.
AMR’s second quarter fuel costs were $2.2 billion, up 0.3 percent compared with last year’s second quarter. The company’s second quarter fuel consumption was 604 million gallons, down 3.7 percent from 2011’s second quarter, at an average per-gallon price of $3.24, a 4.1 percent increase from the $3.11 price of a year ago.
AMR’s second largest expense in the second quarter, wages, salaries and benefits, totaled $1.78 billion, a 0.8 percent rise from last year’s second quarter.
Consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile for both American Airlines and American Eagle Airlines, its regional airline affiliate, increased 9.1 percent compared with last year’s second quarter, while American’s passenger unit revenue rose 8.7 percent.
Consolidated passenger yield, representing average fares paid, increased 7.1 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, while American’s passenger yield increased 6.8 percent.
American Airlines’ seating capacity in the second quarter decreased 2.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
American’s second quarter load factor — the percentage of seats filled — was 85.1 percent, a record for any quarter in company history, officials said.
Second quarter bankruptcy expenses included $230 million in estimated claims associated with restructuring the financing for certain aircraft and rejecting certain facility revenue bonds, as well as fees for lawyers and consultants.
AMR also spent $106 million in the second quarter related to a special charge, primarily associated with employee severance costs, company executives said.
Associated Images:
An American Airlines jet descends over Tulsa last week. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World File
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