FORT WORTH, TEXAS — American Airlines Group Inc. reported its third-quarter 2022 financial results. The net income of the airline became $483 million in this period.
In the third quarter, American flew a schedule that was more than 25% larger than its closest competitor as measured by total departures. American and its regional partners operated more than 500,000 flights in the quarter, with an average load factor of 85.3%, which is 6.6 points higher than the third quarter of 2021. Despite a challenging operating environment — with hurricanes in Florida and the Caribbean and flooding in Dallas-Fort Worth — American restored its operating reliability to pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter. American has delivered a record on-time arrival rate and completion factor so far in October and expects to carry this momentum through the upcoming holiday season and beyond.
American is proud to offer customers the largest network of any U.S. airline, with an expected average of more than 5,100 daily departures for the remainder of the year.
American produced revenues of $13.5 billion in the third quarter, a 13% increase versus 2019 and a record for any quarter in company history. This record revenue was achieved while flying at 9.6% less capacity than in the same period in 2019. The company produced an operating margin excluding net special items of 7.2% in the quarter.
Demand for domestic and short-haul international travel remains very strong, and the airline expects further improvement in demand for long-haul international travel as travel restrictions and testing requirements are lifted around the globe.
American ended the third quarter with $14.3 billion of total available liquidity, comprising cash and short-term investments plus undrawn capacity under the revolving and other credit facilities. Total debt reduction continues to be a top priority, and the company remains on track to reduce total debt levels by $15 billion by the end of 2025.
In the third quarter, the company made approximately $380 million in scheduled debt and finance lease payments. As of Sept. 30, 2022, American had reduced its total debt by $5.6 billion from peak levels in the second quarter of 2021.
