American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) said it raised its
third-quarter forecast for a key industry metric by half a
percentage point.
The world's largest airline by traffic now expects consolidated
passenger revenue per available seat mile to increase by between
0.5% and 1.5% for the third quarter from a year earlier. The
company affirmed its forecast for margins excluding one-time items
of between 10% and 12%.
In an investor update, American also lowered its estimate for
2014 total system capacity growth to 2.2% from its earlier view for
a 3% increase. The company reduced its average per-gallon jet-fuel
cost forecast by six cents and now expects it to be between $2.95
and $3.
For September, the company reported that passenger traffic edged
down 0.2% as an increase in domestic and regional traffic was
offset by a decline in international traffic.
Capacity increased 1.6% though the percentage of seats
filled--or load factor--declined to 80% from 81.5%.
American's predecessor company, AMR Corp., merged with US
Airways Group Inc. in December last year. The company's traffic and
capacity data from a year ago combine US Airways's and American's
results.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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