American Airlines reports third-quarter 2024 financial results

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) today reported its third-quarter 2024 financial results, including:

• Record third-quarter revenue of $13.6 billion.
• Third-quarter net loss of $149 million, or ($0.23) per share. Excluding net special items1, third-quarter net income of $205 million, or $0.30 per diluted share.
• Led U.S. network carriers in third-quarter completion factor.
• Ended the third quarter with $11.8 billion of total available liquidity.
• On track to reduce total debt2 from peak levels by $15 billion by year-end 2025.
• Full-year adjusted earnings per diluted share3 expected to be between $1.35 and $1.60.

“The American Airlines team continues to focus on running a reliable operation and managing costs across the airline,” said American’s CEO Robert Isom. “We have taken aggressive action to reset our sales and distribution strategy and reengage the business travel community, which we’re confident will improve our revenue performance over time. We have heard great feedback from travel agencies and corporate customers as we work to rebuild the foundation of our commercial strategy and make it easy for customers to do business with American.”

Sales and distribution strategy

American continues to evolve its sales and distribution strategy to address feedback from corporate and agency partners and regain lost share. In the third quarter, the airline renegotiated competitive contracts with a majority of the largest travel agencies and many of its top corporate customers, reintroduced Corporate Experience benefits for corporate travelers, and increased support for corporate and agency customers by adding sales account managers and sales support staff.

Operational performance

The American Airlines team demonstrated its continued resilience in the third quarter by quickly recovering from several irregular operations events, most notably the CrowdStrike outage and Hurricanes Debby and Helene. Despite the impact of these events, the American team delivered strong operational results in the third quarter, including the highest completion factor among U.S. network carriers and delivering the airline’s highest third-quarter load factor since the merger of American and US Airways in 2013.

Financial performance

American delivered earnings results ahead of prior guidance. The company produced record third-quarter revenue of $13.6 billion, an increase of 1.2% year over year. On a GAAP basis, the company produced an operating margin of 0.7% in the quarter. Excluding the impact of net special items¹, the company produced an adjusted operating margin of 4.7% in the quarter.

Balance sheet and liquidity

American continued to strengthen its balance sheet in the third quarter by reducing total debt² by approximately $360 million. The company is more than $13 billion toward its goal of reducing total debt² by $15 billion by the end of 2025. The company ended the quarter with approximately $11.8 billion of total available liquidity, comprised of cash and short-term investments plus undrawn capacity under revolving credit and other facilities.

Guidance and investor update

Based on present demand trends, the current fuel price forecast and excluding the impact of special items, the company expects its fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per diluted share³ to be between $0.25 and $0.50. The company now expects its full-year 2024 adjusted earnings per diluted share³ to be between $1.35 and $1.60.

For additional financial forecasting detail, please refer to the company’s investor update, furnished with this press release with the SEC on Form 8-K. This filing is also available at aa.com/investorrelations.