American Airlines recorded a $473 million net loss in the first quarter, amid a “challenging economic environment” that saw passenger demand wane during the first few months of 2025.
The Fort Worth-based carrier became the latest air carrier to signal weakening interest in travel that started in February, with consumers hampered by escalating tariff uncertainty escalated and stubborn inflation.
“It goes without saying that we’re in a challenging economic environment which has had a significant impact on the industry,” CEO Robert Isom said Thursday.
“Historically, the airline industry has done well in periods of economic growth and certainty. The industry exited the fourth quarter with positive momentum, but this quickly shifted during the first quarter,” he added.
“The economic uncertainty in the market has pressured demand and impacted Americans.”
Revenue was up 0.7% year over year ,as the company brought in $12.6 billion in sales.
American also saw a $200 million estimated decrease in revenue, after the mid-air collision between one of the company’s regional jets and a military helicopter killed a combined 67 passengers.
The incident, the first fatal crash in the U.S. commercial air industry since 2009, briefly shook confidence in the sector, and converged with heightened public awareness of aviation accidents.
“We did see a slowing in bookings that impacted our first quarter revenue by a couple hundred million dollars,” American Air cheif financial officer Devon May said. “We know that aviation is the safest form of transportation there is... so we don’t expect any long-term impact from that.”
Instead, May said that the slowdown that persisted through March’s spring break travel period was entirely based on economic worry from consumers.
American Air’s leaders repeatedly said that the carrier would quickly reduce flights, and even take planes out of service, if passenger demand wanes further.
“Capacity plans will remain nimble and take action as conditions warrant, and we have many levers at our disposal, such as reducing off-peak flying, or if circumstances require returning leased aircraft, retiring aircraft and deferring aircraft deliveries to efficiently reduce capacity without jeopardizing the quality of our core network,” Isom said Thursday during a call with analysts.
American also became the latest airline to remove its financial forecast for the rest of the year, a move Southwest announced the day before.
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