American Airlines hails ‘resilience’ in face of increased flight disruption 

American Airlines delivered a “resilient operation” in the second quarter in the face of a 36% increase in “disruptive operational events”.

The year-on-year impact was primarily driven by increased storm activity at the airline’s hubs in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Washington DC, and the northeast of the US. 

The airline said: “American continues to demonstrate its ability to quickly recover from irregular operations, and its investments in technology are driving additional enhancements to both reliability and the customer experience.”

The disclosure came as net profits came in at $628 million on record quarterly revenue of $14.4 billion, up 0.4% year-on-year.

"American saw continued strength in premium cabin demand in the second quarter, particularly to long-haul international destinations. All international entities delivered positive unit revenue growth year over year, with Atlantic passenger unit revenue up 5%,” the carrier said.

Chief executive Robert Isom said: “American delivered record revenue in an evolving demand environment in the second quarter thanks to the hard work and dedication of our team. 

“We remain confident that the actions we have taken over the past several years to refresh our fleet, manage costs and strengthen our balance sheet position us well for the future. 

“The investments we have made toward achieving our revenue potential, including bolstering our network, customer experience and loyalty programme, are paying off, and the team remains focused on delivering on our long-term strategy.”

In an earnings call, he added: “We’re well positioned to attract premium customers with plans to expand our premium seating further in the years ahead.”

However, Isom added: “The strength in international premium was offset by domestic leisure weakness. Domestic unit revenue was down approximately 6% year over year. 

“The softness in the main cabin persisted throughout the second quarter. 

“While domestic unit revenue is expected to remain lower year over year in the third quarter, we expect that July will be the low point and that performance will improve sequentially each month in the quarter as industry capacity growth slows and demand strengthens.”

Investor relations vice president Neil Russell said: "We are proud to be forecasting a profit in a year where we have faced the challenges of a tragic accident, significant and continued ATC [air traffic control] delays, unprecedented weather, the full financial cost of new collective bargaining agreements, and a material drop in demand in the domestic market where we produce over 70% of our revenue.”