Fort Worth-based American Airlines has posted its first profit since the pandemic started. Thursday morning, the airline announced a $19 million profit for the second quarter of 2021.
According to the airline's report, American would have posted a $1.1 billion loss without federal payroll assistance.
"This loss, while large, is the smallest we've had since the start of the pandemic as demand for air travel has increased significantly," says American Airlines CEO Doug Parker.
Parker says the airline's revenue was 87% higher than in the first quarter. He says American flew 44 million passengers in the second quarter, more than any other airline and five times more than in the second quarter of 2020.
"We ramped up operations dramatically in response to customer demand," Parker says. "Our team's doing a phenomenal job of taking care of our customers. Our on-time performance and our completion factor for the quarter were the best in our history despite the significant ramp-up in operations."
President Robert Isom says American has brought back 3,000 employees from leave. He says the airline plans to hire 350 additional pilots this year and more than 1,000 pilots and 800 flight attendants in 2022.
Isom says leisure travel has continued to recover more quickly than business travel. He expects business travel to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
"As vaccinations have increased, business travel has started to return in a meaningful way," Isom says. "Customers are telling us they're eager to travel."
He says American has started planning for that increase in travel and expects to expand its domestic network next month.
"At DFW, we recently opened four new gates, which allows us to continue to grow organically at our largest and most profitable hub," Isom says.
While domestic travel is increasing, Isom says international travel has been slower to recover due to slower vaccine roll-outs in other countries. He says quarantine requirements and travel restrictions have limited international demand.
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