FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- The chief executive of American Airlines said Wednesday the industry is in worse shape than a year ago due to low fares and higher fuel costs.
Gerard Arpey said, however, that American was making progress by reducing costs and finding new ways to raise fees. He noted that parent company AMR Corp. has reduced its losses for more than a year.
Arpey made the comments at AMR's annual shareholders meeting.
At a news conference after the meeting, Arpey said a merger of US Airways Group Inc. and America West Holdings Corp. could help other carriers if the two airlines reduced their capacity.
But he said the merger would hurt the industry if both US Airways and America West were to fly at current strength.
Shares of AMR rose 43 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $11.45 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, near the high end of a 52-week range of $6.34 to $12.83.
