American Airlines reports first quarter 2024 net loss of $312 million, $12.6bn in revenue

American Airlines posted its first quarter 2024 revenue of approximately $12.6bn, up 3.1% YoY, and a net loss of $312 million, down from a net profit of $10 million YoY. It reported a diluted loss per share of 48 cents, down from its first quarter earnings of per share of two cents. American generated an operating cash flow of $2.2bn and free cash flow of $1.4bn in the first quarter. It had also reduced its total debt by nearly $950 million in the first quarter with it being over 80% on the way to its 2025 total debt reduction goal. “While we aren’t satisfied with our first-quarter financial results, we have a strong foundation in place, and we remain on track to deliver on our full-year financial targets,” said American CEO Robert Isom. American had produced a free cash flow of $1.4bn and reduced its total debt by nearly $950 million in the first quarter. In an earnings call, American CFO Devon May said: ""We have now reduced total debt by $12.3bn from peak levels in 2021. Net debt is now at $33.4bn, nearly $2bn lower than pre-pandemic levels. We continue to expect to be more than 85% of the way to our $15bn total debt reduction goal by the end of this year."" Its total revenue passenger miles (RPM) for the first quarter of the year were at 57.5bn, up 10.5% from 52.01bn in 2023's first quarter, while its available seat miles (ASM) were up 8.5% from 65bn to 70.5bn. Domestically, its RPMs increased 8.6% to 38.8bn and ASMs were up 5.7% to 47.1bn, with passenger revenue up 2.8% at $8.3 million. Its total international RPMs were up 14.7% to 18.7bn and ASMs were up 14.5% to 23.4bn, with passenger revenue up 4.3% at $3.2 million. The Pacific region saw RPMs up 47.1% at 2.1bn and ASMs up 54.9% at 2.6bn, with its passenger revenue up 37.5% to $302 million. Latin America RPMs and ASMs were up 12.1% and 11.7%, respectively, though its passenger revenue was down 0.7% to $1.9 million, the only region American reported where passenger revenue had not increased. Its cargo tonne miles were up 14.7% from 422 million in first quarter 2023 to 484 million. Its cargo yield per tonne mile was down 26.7% from approximately 53 cents in first quarter 2023 to approximately 39 cents in the same period of this year. American added in the earnings call that it will adjust capacity in markets that are overcapacity. May said: ""We plan to grow capacity at 7% to 9% year-over-year in the second quarter, primarily through improvements in aircraft utilisation. Our capacity growth will slow considerably in the back half of the year, and we continue to expect to produce mid-single-digit capacity growth for the full year."" The company expects its second quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per diluted share to be between $1.15 and $1.45. It continues to expect its full year adjusted earnings per diluted share to be between $2.25 and $3.25. TD Cowen analyst Helane Becker said the guidance ""seems reasonable, although will likely need to be adjusted once a flight attendant agreement is ratified.""