By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – American Airlines stock (NASDAQ:AAL) traded 1.3% higher in premarket Thursday after its October-December numbers beat estimates.
Total operating revenue more than doubled to over $9 billion as the carrier flew more passengers and freight. The loss per share of $1.42 more than halved from last time and was narrower than expected. That was despite the fact that fuel and related taxes in the fourth quarter more than tripled from a year ago to $2.2 billion.
The carrier continues to operate well below levels that were normal before the pandemic. It expects its January-March capacity to be down 8%-10% compared to the same period in 2019 and revenue to be down by 20%-22%. The airline said it will continue to match its capacity with booking trends.
The airline’s forecast that was limited to the first quarter, in contrast to that of rival United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL), which said last night that capacity won't get back to pre-pandemic levels at all this year.
The airlines’ comments come after Omicron wrecked their recovery plans just when things were looking up after almost two years of the pandemic.
Pilots and staff called in sick in December and with harsh weather conditions adding to the commotion, airlines were forced to cancel thousands of flights during the peak holiday season. To ensure limited operations, they had to pay higher incentives to staff which ensured the company’s on-time performance in the last month was better than any December in years prior to the pandemic. Operations continue to face other disruptions, too, with the launch of 5G cellular service prompting some further flight cancellations over airplane safety concerns.