American Airlines’s second-quarter profit near $500M | Local Business News

That compares with a profit of $19 million, or 3 cents per diluted share, for the same period a year ago.

The Fort Worth-based airline’s largest maintenance base is in Tulsa and employs about 5,200 people.

“We are very pleased to report a quarterly profit, excluding net special items, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, driven by the strong demand environment and the hard work of our team,” American CEO Robert Isom said in a statement.

“The American Airlines team has stepped up to meet the surge in demand for air travel while running a reliable operation in very challenging conditions. We are encouraged by the trends we’re seeing across the business, and we remain well-positioned for the continued recovery.”

American reported second-quarter revenue of $13.4 billion, a 12.2{09e594db938380acbda72fd0ffbcd1ef1c99380160786adb3aba3c50c4545157} increase over the same period in 2019, despite flying 8.5{09e594db938380acbda72fd0ffbcd1ef1c99380160786adb3aba3c50c4545157} less capacity.

In the second quarter, flew a schedule more than 25{09e594db938380acbda72fd0ffbcd1ef1c99380160786adb3aba3c50c4545157} larger than its closest competitor, as measured by total departures. American and its regional partners operated more than 500,000 flights in the quarter, an 8{09e594db938380acbda72fd0ffbcd1ef1c99380160786adb3aba3c50c4545157} increase over the second quarter of 2021, with an average load factor of 87{09e594db938380acbda72fd0ffbcd1ef1c99380160786adb3aba3c50c4545157}, which is 10 points higher than the second quarter of 2021.

The airline’s on-time departure rate, on-time arrival rate and completion factor for the second quarter of 2022 were each improved versus the second quarter of 2019.

“This important milestone of returning to profitability is a testament to your hard work,” Isom said in a letter to employees. “We set out to do two things at the start of this year — run a reliable operation and return to profitability — and the American Airlines team is delivering. Our entire team has stepped up to meet the surge in demand, and we are responding to it with a reliable operation despite very challenging conditions.”

American canceled 4,900 flights in June, more than any other U.S. airline, and scrubbed the highest percentage of its schedule among major U.S. carriers, according to figures from FlightAware. Only Southwest Airlines had more flight delays.

Airlines have blamed bad weather and understaffing of federal air traffic controllers for many of their flight delays this summer, but part of the problem is also a shortage of workers. Airlines paid tens of thousands of employees to quit after the pandemic devastated their business in 2020, and are still hiring and training replacements.

Isom said American has hired 20,000 people to cover attrition and added new positions. The only staffing shortage, he said, concerns pilots at regional affiliates, which fly smaller planes under the American Eagle brand. That has led to the equivalent of parking 100 Eagle planes, officials said.

American could trim scheduled flights to run more smoothly — as rival United Airlines announced Wednesday that it will do for the rest of this year.