Copyright Reuters
Shares of the carrier were up nearly 4% in premarket trading. Sign up here. A slowdown in domestic travel earlier this year, driven by economic uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, had left airlines in a bind, pushing them to cut fares to fill seats. Since then, major carriers have scaled back capacity to restore pricing power and safeguard margins. American now expects full-year adjusted profit per share in the range of 65 cents to 95 cents, compared with its projection in July of a wide range between a 20-cent loss and an 80-cent profit. High-margin premium services, meanwhile, have remained strong, as affluent travelers continue to pay a premium for a more comfortable journey. A post-pandemic shift has found airlines firming up their bets on premium services. For the quarter through September, the U.S. carrier reported a net loss of $114 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with a $149 million, or 23 cents, loss a year ago. On Wednesday, domestic peer Southwest reported a surprise profit, helped by an improvement in travel bookings. Its total operating revenue marginally rose to about $13.69 billion. Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli
