American Airlines announced Thursday the company’s fourth-quarter profit rose 27 percent to $414 million as a result of strong travel demand.
Officials from American reported during the airline’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 financial results conference call that revenue grew by more than three percent to $11.31 billion, matching the average forecast by analysts.
The carrier also reported the strong travel demand resulted in record occupancy levels on its flights.
“During the fourth quarter, we made important progress to address the issues that impacted our business in 2019, and, thanks to our incredible team, we ended the year with our strongest operational quarter on record,” American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said during the call.
“While our results for the quarter reflect this progress, we know there is more work to be done. Looking to 2020, we are focused on three key areas,” Parker continued. “First, we will continue to deliver operational excellence and build on our strong fourth-quarter results. Our team has done a tremendous job, and we will keep driving improvement in key operational metrics in the year ahead.”
“Second, we will deliver those results while growing where we have a competitive advantage in our most profitable hubs,” he said. “And third, these initiatives combined with our capital plan will enable us to drive significant free cash flow in 2020 and beyond.”
While the fourth-quarter numbers were a major win for American, the airline continues to deal with the impact of the Boeing 737 MAX grounding, which forced the company to cancel around 10,000 flights in the fourth quarter.
