American Airlines Wants Flyers to Pay More as Travel Rebounds
Photo Caption: American plans to fly more wide-body jets on domestic routes to meet leisure demand this summer.
Skift Take
American is cautiously optimistic about the summer ahead with plans to fly more and boost fares on its way back to profitability. But when the airline can hit that is still anyone's guess with business and long-haul international travel still largely absent in the recovery.
Bookings are rising and business travelers may be on the cusp of returning at American Airlines, allowing the carrier to begin turning its focus back to its pre-coronavirus pandemic financial playbook even as the red ink continues.
Fare sales are out and managing seat availability is in with system net bookings hitting 2019 levels during the past week, American executives said during its first quarter earnings call on Thursday. An impressive feat considering business and long-haul international travel — two traditional cash cows for the airline — are only back to about 20 percent of pre-crisis levels.
“Engineering bookings is not the issue anymore," said American Chief Revenue Officer Vasu Raja during the call. "It is about getting yields back and getting RASM [revenue per available seat mile] back, especially in our domestic system.”
That's a good shift for American, which, even after nearly $2 billion in financial relief from the federal government, still lost $1.25
