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American Airlines reveals $931 million loss

By Hugh Fort in Business News, posted January 22, 2022

American Airlines has revealed a fourth-quarter loss of more than $900 million, part of a $2 billion fall in revenue across 2021.

The company, based in Fort Worth, Texas, says it made a net loss of $931 million in the final part of 2021, which is down 17 percent from the same period in 2019.

The airline giant, which employs 113,200 people, still managed to transport 165 million passengers in 2021, which it says is more than any other US airline.

The better news for the airline was that it ended 2021 with $15.8 billion in total available liquidity - the highest end-of-year in the company's history.

American’s Chairman and CEO Doug Parker said: "As we close out the second year of operating in a global pandemic, we are incredibly proud of the American Airlines team.

“Over the past year, we have experienced periods of high travel demand countered by periods of decreased demand due to new COVID-19 variants. This volatility has created the most challenging planning environment in the history of commercial aviation.

"Yet the American team has delivered, growing back faster and further than any other U.S. airline to meet this unpredictable demand.

"Looking ahead, I’m excited about the future of American with Robert Isom as its new CEO.

"While we still have work to do as the recovery from the pandemic continues, I have no doubt the best is yet to come for American.”

The Fort Worth company, which had to shed 19,000 staff in 2020 - 30 percent of its workforce - due to the devastating pandemic, has still achieved its best performance for on-time arrivals, on-time departures, and completion factor.

This is despite major issues caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant, which led to a big increase in sick calls.

Incoming CEO and President Robert Isom said: “We’re very proud of the way our team delivered throughout 2021.

“Looking forward, our focus in 2022 will be to continue running a reliable airline, returning to profitability, and delivering on our long-term plan to deleverage the balance sheet.”

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