American Airlines To Take $592 Million Write-Off on Venezuelan Currency

American Airlines Group Inc. said its traffic edged up in December and capacity remained flat, while the airline said it would take a $592 million write-off in its fourth quarter on the Venezuelan currency it holds.

Shares of American rose 1% in light premarket trading.

American Airlines said the company decided to write off the value of the Venezuelan bolivars it holds because of the continued economic deterioration in the country. American is the latest multinational company to be affected by the bolivar, which is down sharply against the dollar this year.

American affirmed its guidance for fourth-quarter passenger revenue per available seat mile—a key performance metric in the industry—to be down about 5% to 7% from last year.

American Airlines, which became the world's largest airline by traffic after merging with US Airways in 2013, said passenger traffic rose 1.5% in December.

The company said that while total capacity was flat, load factor—the percentage of seats filled—increased to 81.6% from 80.4% a year ago.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2016 09:05 ET (14:05 GMT)

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