Airline Pilot Central Forums - American reports record profits Q1 2014

Eps 0.65 vs est 0.48

Today we announced our first quarter 2014 financial results. Like last quarter, we’ll compare year-over-year results for American Airlines and US Airways on a combined basis, which is a non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principle) formulation using AMR Corporation and US Airways Group. We’ll continue to report our results on a non-GAAP basis until 2015 when we have a true apples-to-apples comparison of our performance on a year-over-year basis. On to the numbers!

For the first quarter, I’m pleased to report a record first quarter net profit of $402 million excluding net special credits. In the entire history of American Airlines, we have never earned $400 million in the first three months of a year, but in the first three months since the merger, we did. This is up significantly from a combined non-GAAP net profit of $62 million excluding net special charges for the same period of 2013.

These outstanding results are due to the great work of the more than 100,000 members of the American team. We faced an extremely challenging operating environment in the first quarter due to weather but our teams pulled together to take care of our customers, and helped us lead our peers in on-time arrivals and baggage performance in January. Thank you very much for your great work. I am excited for the future and hope you are, too.

Since we closed the merger last December, we’ve made significant progress in integrating our two airlines. Some key accomplishments:

Launched the world’s largest codeshare, offering customers improved access to the company’s global network by allowing them to book flights on both airlines' networks
Provided reciprocal benefits for airport lounge and frequent flyer elite members, including priority check-in, waiving fees for checked bags, complimentary access to preferred seats, priority security lines, early boarding and priority baggage delivery
Enabled AAdvantage® and Dividend Miles® members to earn and redeem miles when traveling across either airline's network
Joined operations at 58 airports, including Phoenix and Miami hubs
Moved US Airways into the oneworld alliance on March 31 and into the trans-Atlantic joint venture with American, British Airways, Iberia and Finnair on April 3
Aligned award travel options, checked baggage policies and inflight services for First and Business Class customers
Announced Sabre as the new Passenger Services System for the combined company
Closed the sale of the slot divestitures required by the U.S. Department of Justice at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). In total, the company received $381 million in cash from the DCA sales and the sale of slots at New York's LaGuardia (LGA) Airport, which closed in the fourth quarter 2013.

Thank you again for all your hard work during a particularly hard first quarter and congratulations on the record results. We have a tremendous amount of integration work ahead, but we are off to a good start to restore American to the greatest airline in the world.