AMERICAN AIRLINES REPORTS $931 MILLION FOURTH-QUARTER LOSS

American Airlines lost $931 million in the fourth quarter and the omicron variant of COVID-19 is delaying its recovery from nearly two years of pandemic.

- 

First-quarter revenue is expected to be down about 20% to 22% compared with the first quarter of 2019, and it will fly slightly less than it did two years ago, the airline said Thursday.

CEO Doug Parker, who retires this spring, said over the past year that American has swung from periods of high travel demand followed by declines as new variants of COVID-19 emerged, creating an unprecedented challenge to airlines’ ability to plan.

“Our results were significantly improved over 2020, but the impact of the omicron variant has affected the timing of a full revenue recovery,” Parker and Robert Isom, who will become CEO in March, said in a note to employees.