AA Reports $1.7 Billion Loss for First Quarter 2012

American Airlines’ parent corporation, AMR Corp., said it lost $1.7 billion in the first quarter of the year, saying most of that was due to the costs of its bankruptcy restructuring. Its net loss for the first quarter of 2011 was $436 million. When excluding reorganizing costs and special items, it had a net loss of $248 million compared to a net loss of $405 million a year earlier.

It said its first quarter consolidated revenues of $6 billion were up 9.1 percent year-over-year. Consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (unit revenue) grew 10.3 percent compared to the first quarter 2011, and mainline passenger unit revenue increased 10 percent. Average fares paid increased 7.4 percent year-over-year in first quarter 2012, and mainline passenger yield increased 7.3 percent.

American’s capacity was up minimally, just 0.2 percent over a year earlier. Its load factors were up slightly to 79 percent, from 77.1 percent for the first quarter of 2011. The company said that significant demand and a positive pricing environment helped it fill its planes and see better yields.

Revenues increased across the board at all five of the airline’s domestic hubs. Revenue over the Atlantic was up 9.7 percent over last year, thanks to American’s joint trans-Atlantic business with British Airways and Iberia, which means American can offer its business customers a bigger network. Latin America, America’s biggest international entity, saw a 10.8 percent increase in unit revenues.