American Airlines Group Inc. AAL reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings before market open Thursday. The carrier reported first-quarter net income of $33 million, or earnings of 5 cents a share, on an adjusted basis, compared with a net loss of $1.5 billion, or an adjusted per-share loss of $2.32 in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for earnings of 4 cents a share. American Airlines reported first-quarter revenue of $12.19 billion, a 37% increase on the prior year’s quarter, but below the FactSet consensus of $12.21 billion. In a statement American Airlines said that its revenue performance was driven by “the continued strength” of the demand environment. “The American Airlines team ran a great operation and delivered on our financial guidance for the quarter, resulting in a first-quarter profit for the first time in four years,” said American Airlines’ CEO Robert Isom, in the statement. American Airlines’ stock fell 0.6% in premarket trades Thursday.
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