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But the good news for airline investors was bad news for airline passengers.
The amount passengers paid to fly each mile on the airlines in the quarter was up just over 20% compared to 2019, by far the highest per-mile fares paid since the start of the pandemic. The spike was driven by a combination of less capacity across the industry and strong demand for air travel.
Those high fares allowed the airlines to lift revenue above what they booked in the same quarter of 2019, despite the reduced capacity.
American posted record second quarter revenue of $13.4 billion, up 12% from 2019 levels, even though capacity was down nearly 9%. Revenue at United was up 6% compared to the same period of 2019, with capacity down 15%.
The surging revenue fueled the carriers’ return to profitability.
American earned $533 million in the quarter excluding special items, matching the forecasts of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. That compares to a $1.1 billion loss a year ago, but is well short of the $810…
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