American Airlines today revised its revenue and profit projections for the fourth quarter of 2022 and, therefore, year-end numbers. Fox Business called this an indication that air travel demand remains robust, despite ongoing inflated airfare pricing.
In American Airlines' filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its Fourth Quarter Investor Relations Update Thursday, the company said that it now anticipates that total revenue for the fiscal year's final three months will come in at 16 to 17 percent above those seen in 2019's final quarter. Those numbers represent a fair improvement over the 11 to 13 percent the airline had estimated previously.
With the price of flights sky-high, it makes sense that American's revenue per seat mile would be higher than it was during the same period in 2019. This was previously projected to be up 18 to 20 percent over 2019, but this number has also been revised to reflect even higher predicted earnings at 24 percent over Q4 2019.
The Texas-based carrier, also the world's largest airline, also indicated that its adjusted earnings per share for 2022's final quarter is now foreseen to fall between $1.12 and $1.17, roughly double the prior estimation of an amount somewhere between $0.50 and $0.70.
It's assumed that American will issue its official, finalized earnings report at the end of this month.
During an earnings call held in October for 2022's third quarter, American CEO Robert Isom said that revenues from both the leisure and business travel segments were seen to stay strong, with flights for the end-of-year holiday season booking "really well" when compared with pre-pandemic years.
American's CFO at the time, Derek Kerr, also made a prediction that "demand for air travel will be robust" in 2023. "We currently see no signs of demand slowing as we move into the new year," he said. "But as always, we will continue to keep a close eye on the macroeconomic environment and will adjust as plans, if necessary."
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