American Airlines Announces Third-Quarter Profit

American Airlines announced a profit of $169 million for the third quarter, with expectations that the winter holiday travel period would increase demand.

According to The Associated Press, American officials revealed during a third-quarter conference call the total profit was impacted by the late-summer surge of the coronavirus Delta variant that caused bookings to dip and cancellations to increase.

The airline said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be down 20 percent compared to the same period in 2019, while capacity will be only 11-13 percent below the third quarter of 2019. The carrier also plans to operate over 6,000 daily flights during peak days in the fourth quarter.

American operated more than 5,600 flights a day during the third quarter.

“While the rise of the COVID-19 delta variant delayed some of our revenue recovery, it has not stopped our progress,” American Chairman and CEO Doug Parker said.

The AP is reporting that American’s $169 million was possible due to the $992 million in federal pandemic relief the carrier received. Without the government assistance, the airline would have lost $641 million.

Earlier this month, the carrier revealed that members of American’s AAdvantage and JetBlue’s TrueBlue Mosaic loyalty programs would now receive elite benefits, including priority check-in, baggage, security and boarding when traveling with either carrier.