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CHICAGO (Reuters) -American Airlines Group became the latest carrier on Thursday to offer an upbeat outlook on bookings, saying rebounding passenger numbers would help it back to profit in the current quarter.
Shares in the United States’ biggest airline by seat capacity soared in pre-market trade, with the Texas-based carrier also saying that rising travel demand had translated into “record” sales in March and drove monthly revenue above levels in pre-pandemic 2019.
The airline estimates that its revenue in the June quarter would be up 6-8% from the same period in 2019. Analysts, in contrast, expect its quarterly revenue to be down about 6% from the pre-pandemic period, Refinitiv data shows.
“The demand environment is very strong,” Chief Executive Robert Isom said in a statement.
After a setback caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant early in the year, travel demand has bounced back. U.S. passenger traffic has been averaging about 89% of pre-pandemic levels since mid-February, Transportation Security Administration data shows.
American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) shares were up 10% at $21.43 in pre-market trade, having fallen by about 35% between mid-February 2020 and Wednesday’s close.
Rivals United Airlines and Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) are also expecting a profit in the second quarter on the back of what they said was the strongest travel demand in years.
Robust bookings also helped American Airlines to report a smaller than expected adjusted loss of $2.32 per share in the quarter through March. Analysts, on average, expected a loss of 2.40 per share, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue for the quarter came in at $8.9 billion, against Wall Street estimates of $8.8 billion.
