American Airlines reports 56.4% profit loss in 3Q16

American Airlines reported a fall in third quarter net income to USD$737 million, a drop of 56.4 percent on last year.

Income before a provision for income tax was taken in the quarter was down 30.4 percent at USD$1.19 billion.

American said operating revenue for the period was USD$10.59 billion, a slight drop from the USD$10.71 billion reported in the same period a year ago. Expenses, however, were up 5.2 percent at USD$9.16 billion on higher staff costs.

Domestic capacity (in available seat miles) was up 1.5 percent, while passenger traffic (in revenue passenger miles) was down 1.3 percent, with a corresponding load factor of 84.6 precent, down 2.4 percentage points on 2015.

American raised capacity on international routes by just 0.5 percent, but passenger traffic (RPM) fell 2.1 percent. Pacific region flights showed a strong increase in revenue passenger miles, up 26.5 percent on a 28.7 percent capacity increase.

The airline said the 2.2 percent drop in revenue per available seat miles was due to competitors’ increased capacity, continued macroeconomic softness outside of the United States, and foreign currency weakness.