American Airlines Group Inc has edged past Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit as strong travel demand and lower fuel costs cushioned the US carrier from flight cancellations due to the 737 MAX grounding.
American's revenue passenger miles flown, a closely watched industry measurement, rose 6% in the fourth quarter.
American, like its peer Southwest Airlines, has been under pressure from the worldwide grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX planes since March last year. American, which has 24 MAX jets in its fleet, has indicated that it will keep the jet out of its schedule until early June.
The airline said that it has cancelled 10,000 flights in the quarter due to the grounding.
It said that it expects 2020 full-year adjusted earnings of between $4 and $6 per share, compared with the average analyst estimate of $5.10 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
Net Income, Revenue And Earnings Per Share
Net income rose to $414 million, or 95 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended December 31 from $325 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 3.4% to $11.3 billion.
Excluding items, American earned $1.15 per share, which was above the average analyst estimate of $1.14 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
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