DALLAS _ American Airlines reported a third-quarter profit of $624 million on Thursday, about a 15 percent decrease compared to the $737 million it earned in the same period last year.
American's results showed promising signs on the revenue side, with total revenue up 2.7 percent year-over-year to $10.9 billion. Importantly, the company saw its unit revenues, a closely watched metric that measures the amount earned per seat flown a mile, increase 1.1 percent, with an even greater improvement projected for the fourth quarter.
Operating expenses increased 5.3 percent to $9.6 billion, driven by a 13.3 percent increase in fuel costs.
American also lost about $75 million after it cancelled 8,000 flights due to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
"Despite the significant operational challenges posed by three hurricanes, our team delivered solid financial results," CEO Doug Parker said in a statement. "The hurricane response highlighted the humanity and professionalism of the American team, and our industry as a whole.
