American Airlines reported improving Q4 results on Thursday with revenues of $9.4bn, 17% lower vs. Q4 2019 but more than double Q4 2020 levels. Net loss for the quarter ended December came in at $931mn vs. $2.18bn in Q4 2020 and a profit of $414mn in Q4 2019. On an adjusted basis, loss per share stood at $1.42, a tad narrower compared to analyst estimates of $1.48. For the full year 2021, net loss stood at $1.99bn, despite American receiving $4.2bn in financial aid via the Payroll Support Program (PSP). The carrier said that domestic business travel, 30% of its passenger revenue in 2019, recovered to ~70% of pre-pandemic levels in Q4. For Q1 2022, it has guided for capacity to be 8-10% lower and revenues to be 20-22% lower vs. 2019 levels given the Omicron variant’s impact in the first two months of the year. Similar to United Airlines, American too guided for higher costs, 5% higher than 2019 levels, on account of elevated fuel prices, higher wages and training costs.
American Airlines’ 5.75% 2029s are trading at 106.16, yielding 4.74%.
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