American Airlines: Latin American Air Traffic on the Rise

This story is courtesy of http://www.bizjournals.com/

AMR Corp., parent of American Airlinesand American Eagle, said international travel to Latin America increased 4 percent in April, but saw an overall decline in traffic in its other markets.

Revenue passenger miles for Latin America increased to 2 million last month, up from last year’s 1.9 million. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company boarded 2.6 million passengers to Latin America during the month, up 7.4 percent from 2.4 million last year. The load factor for the Latin American unit declined 2.6 percent.

American’s Latin American traffic flies predominately out of Miami International Airport (MIA).

For the airline’s domestic market, the company said traffic and revenue both declined in April.

Passenger revenue miles for domestic flights in April dropped to 6.2 million, down 1.4 percent from last year’s 6.3 million, the company said. Available seat miles were down 1.5 percent, from 7.4 million passengers to 7.3 million. Load factor for domestic flights was up 0.1 percentage points to 85 percent.

April’s consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile was an estimated 2.9 percent below the same period last year. On a consolidated basis, the company boarded 8.8 million passengers in April.

AMR Corp., which is undergoing bankruptcy, plans to merge American Airlines with rival US Airways Group Ltd. (NYSE: LCC) some time before the end of the year.

Shares of AMR Corp. (Pink sheets: AAMRQ) were up 13 cents, or 2.66 percent, to $5.01 in Thursday morning trading. The stock was trading at a volume of 1.3 million shares, down from its three-month average volume of 12 million shares. AAMRQ saw its 52-week high of $4.96 on May 8 and its 52-week low of 36 cents on Nov. 20.