The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
American, Southwest add to quarterly airline losses
Pandemic cutting deeply into travel, costing companies billions.
Airlines are piling up billions of dollars in additional losses as the pandemic chokes off air travel, but a recent uptick in passengers, however modest, has provided some hope.
American Airlines on Thursday reported a loss of $ 2.4 billion and Southwest Airlines lost $ 1.16 billion in the third quarter, typically a very strong period of air travel that includes most of the summer vacation season.
Revenue tumbled 73% at American and 68% at Southwest, compared with a year earlier, before the global spread of COVID- 19.
American said its loss after one- time gains and losses was $ 5.54 per share. That was better than Wall Street feared, as analysts forecast a loss of $ 5.62 per share. Southwest’s adjusted loss came to $ 1.99 per share, also better than the expected loss of $ 2.44 per share. Revenue fell to $ 1.79 billion; analysts predicted $ 1.68 billion.
Combined with earlier losses reported by Delta and United, the four largest U. S. airlines have lost at least $ 10 billion in each of the last two quarters. Officials at many airlines believe travel won’t return to normal until the pandemic is under control and a vaccine is widely available.
Also, Alaska Air Group reported a third- quarter loss of $ 431 million. Revenue dropped to $ 701 million, slightly better than Wall Street expected.
Air travel in the U. S. has recovered slowly in recent months, topping 1 million daily passengers on Sunday. However, air travel in October is still down 65% froma year ago. Business travelers, who fly more often and pay higher fares, are still mostly absent.