Americans second quarter cargo drops 42 per cent

AMERICAN Airlines’ parent company – AMR – has posted a loss of US$390 million for the second calendar quarter.

Revenues dropped dramatically by nearly 21 per cent to $4.89 billion, compared to $6.18 billion last year. Cargo revenues on American other partners crashed 42.6 per cent ($99 million). American’s cargo ton miles fell from 533 million to 399 million, more than 25 per cent. As with other US carriers blame was partly put on swine flu in Mexico, which cut revenues by $50 million to $80 million.

Compared to the massive $1.45 billion loss for the same period in 2008, due to large write-offs on aircraft values, this is slight. However, excluding special items the second quarter losses were $298 million for 2008’s second quarter and $319 million for this year’s.

“The challenges for our industry and company have continued throughout 2009,” said AMR chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey. “With ongoing global economic weakness and the resulting effect on travel demand, revenues are down sharply from a year ago. The spot price of oil, while much lower than this time last year, has risen since early this year and remains volatile.”