On Thursday, American Airlines Group reported fourth quarter and full year profit for 2019. The company reported a Q4 earnings per diluted share of $0.95 and full years EPS of $3.79 per diluted share.
Today, the American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) reported a fourth quarter net profit of $414M and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.95. For the full year, the carrier reported a net income of $1.7B and a diluted EPS of $3.79. During Q4, the company accrued $74M in their employee profit sharing program, bringing the total annual accrual to $213M. In 2019, the airline returned $1.3B to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. In Thursday’s announcement, American Airlines’ Chairman and CEO, Doug Parker said,
“During the fourth quarter, we made important progress to address the issues that impacted our business in 2019, and, thanks to our incredible team, we ended the year with our strongest operational quarter on record. While our results for the quarter reflect this progress, we know there is more work to be done. Looking to 2020, we are focused on three key areas. First, we will continue to deliver operational excellence and build on our strong fourth quarter results. Our team has done a tremendous job, and we will keep driving improvement in key operational metrics in the year ahead. Second, we will deliver those results while growing where we have a competitive advantage in our most profitable hubs. And third, these initiatives combined with our capital plan will enable us to drive significant free cash flow in 2020 and beyond.”
In the fourth quarter, revenue at the airline was up 3.4% year-over-year (YoY) to a record $11.3B and passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) grew 0.9% to a Q4 record of 14.72 cents. Cost per available seat mile (CASM) for Q4 came in at 15.06 cents, down 0.8% YoY, while CASM-ex (CASM excluding fuel and net special items) was up 2% YoY to 11.59 cents.
With the company’s historic fleet renewal winding down, the airline expects reduced capital expenditure (CAPEX) spending moving forward and plans to generate around $6B in free cash flow over the next two years. In Q4, the carrier had to cancel around 10K flights, associated with the continued grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX. American Airlines has 24 737 MAX aircraft in their fleet, with an additional 76 on order. In trading Thursday morning, American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) shares were trading flat at $27.33/share (10:45AM EST).
Source: American Airlines