McClatchy Washington Bureau

Print This Article

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.