American Airlines cuts its full-year earnings forecast, reports better-than-expected Q1 revenue
The last of the big four US airlines to drop its Q1 earnings, American Airlines, did just that on Thursday morning before markets opened. The carrier’s shares ticked down in premarket trading.
For Q1 2026, American reported:
An adjusted loss of $0.40 per share, compared to the loss of $0.47 per share expected from Wall Street analysts polled by FactSet.
$13.91 billion in revenue, compared to estimates of $13.79 billion.
Looking ahead to Q2, the company expects adjusted earnings per share of between -$0.20 and $0.20, compared to the $0.08 loss expected by Wall Street. For the full year ahead, American forecast adjusted earnings of between a $0.40 loss per share and $1.10 earnings per share, lower than its earlier forecast of $1.70 to $2.70 per share. Analysts expected a loss of $0.65.
American said it paid $2.93 billion for fuel and related taxes in the quarter, up 13.2% from the same period last year. Like the rest of its major rivals, American Airlines hiked its bag fees earlier this month in an attempt to offset fuel costs, which have spiked amid the war in Iran. In March, American boosted its sales outlook on stronger-than-expected demand.
Lately, the airline has spent time and effort rejecting rumors that it could potentially merge with rival United Airlines. Recent reports that United CEO Scott Kirby had floated the idea to President Trump sent American’s shares climbing, but they’ve since pared most of those gains. On Tuesday, the president said he doesn’t like the idea of the merger.
According to a Wednesday evening report from Bloomberg, American is exploring “potential revenue-sharing agreements and other strategic partnerships” with Alaska Air. A merger was discussed but those talks ultimately fizzled out, per the report.