American raises 2Q unit revenue guidance

TIN news:  American Airlines has boosted its second-quarter unit revenue forecast after a strong traffic performance in April.

The Dallas/Fort Worth-based carrier reported consolidated traffic of 18.6 billion RPMs in April, up 3.1% over April 2016. Capacity for the month was up just 0.8% year-over-year (YOY) to 22.6 billion ASMs and load factor was 82.2%, up 1.8 points.

American said it now expects its second-quarter unit revenue, as measured in RASM, to be up 3.5% to 5.5% YOY, an increase from its previous forecast of a 3% to 5% gain. The company also said its pre-tax margin excluding special items in the quarter will be 12% to 14%, up from previous guidance of 11% to 13%.

For the first four months of 2017, American’s consolidated traffic was down 0.3% YOY on an 0.6% cut in capacity.