• Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

tool name

close
tool goes here

American Airlines announces big loss for 2nd quarter

More on this Story

By Andrea Ahles | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, reported a $1.4 billion loss, or $5.77 per share, for the second quarter on Wednesday, despite increasing revenues by 5 percent.

The Fort Worth-based company said record jet fuel prices hurt the airline’s earnings as it paid $779 million more for fuel in the second quarter of 2008 than the same period last year. AMR added that $1.1 billion in accounting charges related to the decreasing value of aircraft in its fleet contributed to the airline’s quarterly losses.

"Our company continues to be severely challenged by the fuel crisis that has afflicted our entire industry, and we expect these difficulties to continue for the foreseeable future," said AMR chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey. "Clearly, our second quarter results were disappointing."

AMR reported revenues of about $6.2 billion, up from $5.8 billion from the second quarter of 2007. The second quarter loss compares to a profit of $317 million, $1.08 per share, in the same period last year.

Despite the heavy quarterly losses, the company lost less money than Wall Street analysts forecasted.

Read the full story at star-telegram.com.

  • del.icio.us
  • |
  • yahoo
  • |
  • Digg it

Q&A: THE HOUSING CRISIS

Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Economy.com, is taking questions from McClatchy readers about the nation's deep housing crisis through Sept. 5. His new book, "Financial Shock," offers a 360-degree look at what caused the crisis, what mistakes were made and who made them. It offers a way forward to prevent future crises.

ECONOMY QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

hall & pugh

McClatchy correspondents Kevin G. Hall (left) and Tony Pugh are available to answer your questions about the shaky economy at home and abroad, and what's in store for ordinary Americans in the face of gathering economic storm clouds

Q&A: TERMINAL CHAOS

U.S. air travel these days is about as fun as a trip to the dentist. Departure delays are rampant, bags often miss the flight you've caught and rising jet fuel prices have major airlines charging to check a bag. In his new book "Terminal Chaos," George Donohue, a professor and former high-level Federal Aviation Administration official, explains why our system of air travel is broken and what can be done to fix it. Read the responses.

Q&A: THE THREE TRILLION DOLLAR WAR

For two weeks, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes, authors of "The Three Trillion Dollar War," fielded questions about the cost of the Iraq war and its impact on the U.S. economy. They're not taking new questions, but they're still posting answers to ones they've already received. Read their responses.