American Airlines said that it is almost two-thirds of the way to reducing its debt by $15 billion by 2025, with the carrier reporting healthy cash and free cash flow numbers in Q2 2023.
Overall, since its mid-2021 peak, American Airlines reduced its debt by around $9.4 billion, reporting a cash flow of $1.8 billion and free cash flow of $1.2 billion in Q2 2023. During the same quarter, its net income was $1.3 billion, with the carrier earning $14 billion in revenue.
In H1 2023, its net income was $1.348 billion, with the airline continuing to operate profitably throughout the year (Q1 2023 net income: $10 million). Of the top 10 largest airlines in the United States (US) in Q1 2023 (measured by Available Seat Miles (ASM)), American Airlines was one of only two carriers that ended the period profitably.
“It was another fantastic quarter for American, driven by the hard work of our team to deliver a reliable operation for our customers and the continued strong demand for our product,” said Robert Isom, chief executive officer of American Airlines.
“Our operation is performing at historically strong levels, and we have worked to refresh our fleet and build a comprehensive global network, all of which helped to produce record revenues in the second quarter,” Isom added.
The CEO also said that American Airlines will focus on “reliability, profitability, accountability, and strengthening our balance sheet” for the rest of the year as it continues to build on the momentum it achieved throughout the first six months.
During Q2 2023, the airline’s ASM was 69.6 billion, with Revenue Passenger Miles (RPM) at 60.02 billion, increasing by 4.4% compared to the same period in 2022. It operated a total of 1,470 aircraft by the end of Q2 2023, 944 of which were part of the mainline fleet.
American Airlines also boasted a reliable operation during Q2 2023, achieving the airline’s best-ever Q2 completion factor and controllable completion factor. The latter excludes Q2 2020 and Q2 2021, which were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, during the three-month period, American Airlines operated more than 500,000 flights.