American Airlines

American Airlines only Big 4 US airline to report a Q3 net loss

American Airlines was also the only airline with declining quarterly passenger revenues.

Photo: American Airlines

American Airlines has become the last member of the United States’ Big Four to report its Q3 2025 results, with the airline being the club’s only loss-making carrier during the quarter.

The company ended the three-month period with a net loss of $114 million (excluding special items), which is an improvement compared to the Q3 2024 net loss of $149 million. Year-to-date (YTD), its net income is $12 million, compared to the $256 million net profit that it had after the first nine months of 2024.

According to Robert Isom, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of American Airlines, despite the net loss, the airline’s “team is delivering on our commitments,” and it has a strong foundation, including best-in-class cost management and a focus on balance sheet improvements, to improve its performance.

“Looking forward, I’m confident that continued investments in our network, customer experience, and loyalty program will position us well to drive revenue growth and shareholder value in 2026 and beyond.”

The airline said that its overall revenue of $13.6 billion improved by 0.3% year-on-year (YoY), while unit revenues “improved sequentially throughout the quarter,” including positive unit revenue growth in September. “Premium unit revenue growth year-over-year continues to outperform the main cabin,” it stated, which is a trend that could also be observed in Delta Air Lines and United Airlines’ quarterly results.

“The company remains focused on executing its strategic priorities and delivering on its revenue potential,” it continued, adding that by the end of 2025, its share of indirect revenue should be fully restored following the disastrous shift in sales strategy that resulted in Vasu Raja, the former Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of American Airlines, leaving the company in June 2024. During the Q2 2024 earnings call in July 2024, Isom reiterated that its “sales and distribution strategy was not working and we needed to make a change.”

Nevertheless, while overall revenues grew by 0.3%, its passenger revenues were actually down 0.4% YoY, once again, making American Airlines an outlier among the Big 4 airlines in the US. It managed to mitigate some of that revenue-related pain by controlling its costs, which were only up by 0.1% YoY, with the average aircraft fuel price being down 5.5% YoY.

As such, it at least posted an operating profit of $151 million in Q3, resulting in an operating margin of 1.1%.

However, one of the main drivers of its net loss was its interest payments, which were $432 million during the quarter. While it began 2020 with long-term debt of over $21.5 billion, its long-term debt is now $25.113 billion at the end of Q3, only a marginal improvement compared to its long-term debt of $25.154 billion at the beginning of the year.

American Airlines’ capacity and demand improved by 2.3% and 1.6% YoY. Yield, as well as passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) and total revenue per ASM (TRASM), were all down during the quarter, as well as during the nine-month period.

The company expects to still be profitable at the end of the year, with its quarterly and full-year outlook indicating that the carrier’s adjusted earnings per diluted share should be between $0.45 and $0.75 and $0.65 and $0.95, respectively.

Q4 capacity and total revenue should be up 3% to 5% compared to Q4 2024, while cost per ASM, excluding fuel and net special items (CASM-ex), should grow from 2.5% to 4.5%. American Airlines estimated that its adjusted operating margin should be between 5% and 7%.