American Airlines reports first-quarter 2025 financial results

FORT WORTH, Texas — American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) today reported its first-quarter 2025 financial results, including:

• First-quarter revenue of $12.6 billion
• First-quarter GAAP net loss of $473 million, or ($0.72) per diluted share
• Excluding net special items¹, first-quarter net loss of $386 million, or ($0.59) per diluted share
• Ended the quarter with $10.8 billion of total available liquidity

“The actions American has taken over the past several years to refresh our fleet, manage costs and strengthen our balance sheet position us well for the uncertainty our industry is facing,” said American’s CEO Robert Isom. “The resiliency of the American Airlines team, combined with the investments we have made to differentiate our network, product and customer experience, give us extreme confidence in our ability to navigate the current environment and deliver strong results for the long term.”

Resources

Revenue performance

American produced first-quarter revenue of $12.6 billion. Total unit revenue was up 0.7% versus the first quarter of 2024, driven by continued strength in international unit revenue, which was up 2.9% year over year on 0.8% lower capacity year over year, and continued growth in premium and loyalty revenue. Throughout the quarter, American continued to restore revenue in indirect channels and remains on track to restore its revenue share from indirect channels to historical levels exiting the year. These efforts were offset by a number of factors, including economic uncertainty that pressured domestic leisure demand and the tragic accident of American Eagle Flight 5342.

AAdvantage^® and Citi partnership

American and Citi continue to work toward the implementation of their exclusive and expanded partnership, which starts in 2026, and American remains on track to achieve the long-term growth targets the company previously outlined. In the first quarter, AAdvantage^® enrollments were up 6% year over year with spending on the airline’s co-branded credit cards up 8% year over year, underscoring the continued value of American’s loyalty program.

Customer experience

American’s strong operational performance in recent years and its updated commercial strategy puts the airline in position to renew its focus on the customer experience to drive additional revenue growth. American has established a new Customer Experience organization to drive the strategy and coordinate the implementation of initiatives that define customers’ journeys with American. The company recently announced complimentary high-speed satellite Wi-Fi for AAdvantage^® members beginning in January 2026, sponsored by AT&T. With this, American will offer free inflight connectivity on more aircraft than any other carrier.

Operational performance

In the first quarter, the American team continued to demonstrate its operational resilience and ability to quickly recover from disruptions. American continues to invest in its operation, team and technology to drive additional enhancements in operational reliability.

Financial performance

In the first quarter, the company produced an operating margin of (2.2%) on a GAAP basis. Excluding the impact of net special items¹, the company produced an adjusted operating margin of (1.6%) in the quarter.

Balance sheet and liquidity

American generated free cash flow² of $1.7 billion in the first quarter, which enabled further strengthening of its balance sheet. In the quarter, American reduced its total debt³ by $1.2 billion, contributing to total debt reduction of $16.6 billion from peak levels in 2021. The airline has positioned its balance sheet well for the current environment and remains committed to reducing total debt to less than $35 billion by year-end 2027. The airline ended the first quarter with $10.8 billion of total available liquidity, comprised of cash and short-term investments plus undrawn capacity under revolving credit and other facilities. American has available borrowing capacity of more than $10 billion in unencumbered assets and more than $13 billion in additional first-lien borrowings allowable by its existing financing arrangements.

Guidance and investor update

Based on present demand trends, the current fuel price forecast and excluding the impact of special items, the company expects its second-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per diluted share⁴ to be between $0.50 and $1.00. The company is withdrawing its full-year guidance at this time. American intends to provide a full-year update as the economic outlook becomes clearer.

For additional financial forecasting detail, please refer to the company’s investor update, furnished with this press release with the SEC on Form 8-K. This filing is also available at aa.com/investorrelations.

Conference call and webcast details

The company will conduct a live audio webcast of its financial results conference call at 7:30 a.m. CT today. The call will be available to the public on a listen-only basis at aa.com/investorrelations. An archive of the webcast will be available through May 24.

Notes

See the accompanying notes in the financial tables section of this press release for further explanation, including a reconciliation of all GAAP to non-GAAP financial information and the calculation of free cash flow.

1. The company recognized $87 million of net special items in the first quarter after the effect of taxes, which included operating net special items of $70 million. The first quarter net special items included a one-time charge resulting from pay rate increases effective Jan. 1, 2025, related to the ratification of the contract extension reached in the fourth quarter of 2024 with the company’s mainline maintenance and fleet service team members and an adjustment to litigation reserves, as well as nonoperating net special items of $48 million related to mark-to-market net unrealized losses associated with certain equity investments as well as charges associated with debt refinancings and extinguishments.
2. Please see the accompanying notes for the company’s definition of free cash flow, a non-GAAP measure.
3. All references to total debt include debt, finance and operating lease liabilities and pension obligations.
4. Adjusted earnings per diluted share guidance excludes the impact of net special items. The company is unable to reconcile certain forward-looking information to GAAP as the nature or amount of net special items cannot be determined at this time.

About American Airlines Group
As a leading global airline, American Airlines offers thousands of flights per day to more than 350 destinations in more than 60 countries. The airline is a founding member of the oneworld^® alliance, whose members serve more than 900 destinations around the globe. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL. Learn more about what’s happening at American by visiting news.aa.com and connect with American @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines. To Care for People on Life’s Journey^®.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements and information
Certain of the statements contained in this report should be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “continue,” “seek,” “target,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “if current trends continue,” “optimistic,” “forecast” and other similar words. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the company’s plans, objectives, expectations, intentions, estimates and strategies for the future, and other statements that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are based on the company’s current objectives, beliefs and expectations, and they are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and financial position and timing of certain events to differ materially from the information in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, downturns in economic conditions; our inability to obtain sufficient financing or other capital to operate successfully; our high level of debt and other obligations; our significant pension and other postretirement benefit funding obligations; any deterioration of our financial condition; any loss of key personnel, or our inability to attract, develop and retain additional qualified personnel; changing economic, geopolitical, commercial, regulatory and other conditions beyond our control, including the recently announced tariffs and other global events that affect travel behavior; changes in current legislation, regulations and economic conditions regarding federal governmental tariffs, the implementation of federal government budget cuts and the potential that any of the foregoing affects the demand for, or restricts the use of, travel by government employees and their families or private sector enterprises that contract or otherwise interface with the federal government; the intensely competitive and dynamic nature of the airline industry; union disputes, employee strikes and other labor-related disruptions; problems with any of our third-party regional operators or third-party service providers; any damage to our reputation or brand image; losses and adverse publicity stemming from any public incidents involving our company, our people or our brand; changes to our business model that may not be successful and may cause operational difficulties or decreased demand; our inability to protect our intellectual property rights, particularly our branding rights; litigation in the normal course of business or otherwise; our inability to use net operating losses and other carryforwards; any new U.S. and international tax legislation; any impairment of goodwill and intangible assets or long-lived assets; any inability of our commercial relationships with other companies to produce the returns or results we expect; our dependence on price and availability of aircraft fuel; extensive government regulation and compliance risks; economic and political instability outside of the U.S. where we have significant operations; ongoing security concerns due to conflicts, terrorist attacks or other acts of violence, domestically or abroad; climate change; environmental and social matters, and compliance risks with environmental, health and noise regulations; a shortage of pilots; our dependence on a limited number of suppliers for aircraft, aircraft engines and parts; any failure of technology and automated systems, including artificial intelligence, that we rely on to operate our business; evolving data privacy requirements, risks from cyberattacks and data privacy incidents, and compliance risks with regulations related therewith; any inability to effectively manage the costs, rights and functionality of third-party distribution channels; any inability to obtain and maintain adequate facilities and infrastructure throughout our system and, at some airports, adequate slots; interruptions or disruptions in service at one or more of our key facilities; increases in insurance costs or reductions in insurance coverage; heavy taxation in the airline industry; risks related to ownership of AAG common stock and convertible notes; and those set forth herein as well as in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 (especially in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors) and in the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 (especially in Part I, Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations), and other risks and uncertainties listed from time to time in the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, there may be other factors of which the company is not currently aware that may affect matters discussed in the forward-looking statements and may also cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. The company does not assume any obligation to publicly update or supplement any forward-looking statement to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting these forward-looking statements other than as required by law. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof or as of the dates indicated in the statement.