American Airlines Posts $169M Profit For 3rd Quarter

American Airlines is reporting a third-quarter profit of $169 million after collecting nearly $1 billion in federal pandemic aid, and it expects big crowds and more flights during the upcoming holidays, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Photo Insert: American's profit was made possible by the $992 million it received in federal pandemic relief, without which it would have lost $641 million, or 99 cents per share.

The airline felt the late-summer impact of the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19, which caused a slowdown in bookings and a rise in cancellations across the industry.

“While the rise of the COVID-19 delta variant delayed some of our revenue recovery, it has not stopped our progress,” said Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. American said Thursday that it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be down 20% compared with the same quarter in pre-pandemic 2019.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline said passenger-carrying capacity in the fourth quarter will be only 11% to 13% below the third quarter of 2019. American plans to operate more than 6,000 flights a day during peak days in the fourth quarter.

That compares with an average of just more than 5,600 flights a day during the third quarter, which included most of the summer vacation season.

Parker said that steps to pare its fleet of planes and reduce costs — thousands of workers quit last year — have left American in a good position “as the recovery takes hold.”

American’s profit of $169 million was possible because of $992 million in federal pandemic relief. Without taxpayer help, and other special items, American would have lost $641 million, or 99 cents per share.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic