American Airlines raises 2025 profit outlook on strong premium demand, pricing gains

American Airlines raised its 2025 profit forecast on Thursday, supported by robust demand for high-margin premium services and an improvement in pricing power on domestic routes.

Shares of the carrier were up nearly 4% in premarket trading.

A slowdown in domestic travel earlier this year, driven by economic uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, had left airlines in a bind, pushing them to cut fares to fill seats.

Since then, major carriers have scaled back capacity to restore pricing power and safeguard margins.

American now expects full-year adjusted profit per share in the range of 65 cents to 95 cents, compared with its projection in July of a wide range between a 20-cent loss and an 80-cent profit.

High-margin premium services, meanwhile, have remained strong, as affluent travelers continue to pay a premium for a more comfortable journey. A post-pandemic shift has found airlines firming up their bets on premium services.

For the quarter through September, the U.S. carrier reported a net loss of $114 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with a $149 million, or 23 cents, loss a year ago.

On Wednesday, domestic peer Southwest reported a surprise profit, helped by an improvement in travel bookings.

Its total operating revenue marginally rose to about $13.69 billion.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)