American Airlines on Pace for Record Annual Profit
Less than three months after its rebirth, American Airlines is on pace for a record annual profit estimated at $3.5 billion putting it ahead of rivals Delta Air Lines and United Continental.
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Less than three months after its rebirth, American Airlines Group Inc. (NYSE: AAL) is on pace for a record annual profit, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The consensus estimate of $3.5 billion would put it ahead of the $2.2 billion tally for Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) and the $1.7 billion for United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL).
American CEO Doug Parker sees $1 billion in new revenue and savings by 2015, which would also put the airline ahead of its merger-built rivals. Neither Delta nor United reached $1 billion in new revenue and savings until the second full year of their mergers.
The previous industry record was Delta’s $2.7 billion profit in 2013. The new American emerged from bankruptcy and the merger of AMR and U.S. Airways Group on Dec. 9. The two airlines are working quickly to mesh operations, and the company hopes to have federal approval to operate as a single carrier in the second half of 2015.
Not everything is going absolutely smoothly. Earlier this week U.S. Airway pilots sued their American Airlines counterparts over seniority rights.
But investors are please thus far. American Airlines shares are up about 57.7% since the IPO and reached a new high of $39.33 Thursday. The stock has outperformed both Delta and United in that time.
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Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.
Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.
Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.
Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.
