It’s airline earnings season, for Q1 2025 results. As usual, Delta was first to report its results, followed by United. American has now become the latest airline to report its results, and they’re more or less as expected.
American reports $473 million first quarter loss
For Q1 2025, American has reported a net loss of $473 million, on revenue of $12.6 billion. As a point of comparison, for Q1 2024, American had a net loss of $312 million, on revenue of $12.6 billion. As usual, airlines like to focus on positive aspects of their performance, so American highlights that:
- Unit revenue was up by 0.7% compared to the same quarter last year, and international unit revenue was up 2.9%, thanks to strong premium demand
- American has tried to continue restoring revenue for business travel and other sales channels, but claims that efforts there were offset by a number of factors, including economic uncertainty and the crash of American Eagle flight 5342
- American notes that AAdvantage enrollments were up 6% year-over-year, with spending on co-branded credit cards up 8%
American is also withdrawing its full-year guidance at this time, given the level of economic uncertainty. The airline states it will issue updated guidance once the economic outlook becomes clearer.
Here’s how American CEO Robert Isom described these results:
“The actions American has taken over the past several years to refresh our fleet, manage costs and strengthen our balance sheet position us well for the uncertainty our industry is facing. The resiliency of the American Airlines team, combined with the investments we have made to differentiate our network, product and customer experience, give us extreme confidence in our ability to navigate the current environment and deliver strong results for the long term.”
American is obviously a distant third to Delta & United
There aren’t really any surprises here with American’s financial results. As time goes on, we’re increasingly seeing Delta and United be in one league when it comes to financial performance, and American being in another league.
It’s standard for American to lose money in the first quarter, but then still turn a modest profit at the end of the year, thanks to strong second and third quarter results. Given everything going on in the world at the moment, I’d say there’s very little about American’s results that are particularly noteworthy.
The biggest story right now is the future uncertainty, given the tariff wars, the stock market tanking, and the weakening US Dollar, which have an impact on both the cost and revenue side.
Bottom line
American has reported its Q1 2025 financial results, and the airline had a substantial operating loss. Unlike with Delta and United, this is normal for American, but then the carrier reports significant profits in the second and third quarter, which typically make the airline profitable on an annual basis.
American has withdrawn its guidance for the full year, given the level of uncertainty we’re seeing right now. I suspect Q2 and Q3 will be much more interesting earnings seasons for airlines, as they increasingly deal with the impacts of what we’re seeing right now.
What do you make of American’s Q1 2025 results, and outlook?
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