Fort Worth (Texas, US), Oct 23: American Airlines parent AMR Corp., the world's biggest airline group, has announced it barely broke into the black in the peak July-September quarter. The news sent its stock diving 1.24 dollars or 8.32 per cent to close at 13.66 dollars yesterday.
American, which narrowly dodged bankruptcy in April, reported a net profit of one million dollars in the three months to September 30, compared to a loss of 924 million dollars a year earlier. It was the first profit since the last quarter of 2000 for AMR, which had been pounded by bloated costs, sluggish demand, and then the shock and aftermath of the September 11 attacks in which it lost two planes.
Revenue climbed 1.8 per cent to 4.61 billion dollars.
AMR president and chief executive Gerard Arpey said the group was making good progress under its cost-cutting turnaround plan. "Nevertheless, the third quarter is a peak season for the airline industry and under normal circumstances we should be doing much better at this time of year than simply breaking even," he added.
"We have a lot of work to do to achieve sustained profitability at acceptable levels, but we are clearly on the right track," Arpey said.
American Airlines recorded an 8.1-per cent increase in mainline revenues and an 8.6-per cent drop in mainline unit costs, excluding special items. Bureau Report