Airlines for America (A4A) has stated that US airlines more than doubled their collective net profit for the first half of 2015 to approximately $8.7 billion. Their collective six-month net income, which includes earnings results from 10 publicly traded mainline US passenger airlines, was a significant improvement over a net profit of $3.9 billion recorded by the carriers in the first half of 2014.
The top ten airlines – Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin America – collectively reported an after-tax net margin of 11.2% during the reporting period, which more than doubles the 4.9% margin reported in the first half of 2014.
A4A VP and chief economist John Heimlich, declared that US airlines are “finally realizing profit margins that are on par with the S&P 500 average, a barometer of US corporate performance.”