American Airlines Extends Record Revenue Streak Into Fourth Quarter

The Tip Desk · October 22, 2026 · 4 min read

Third-quarter revenue reached $16.3 billion, up 19.3% from a year earlier, as fuel expense rose $1.9 billion and the airline swung to a GAAP loss.

American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) reported third-quarter revenue of $16.3 billion, up 19.3% from a year earlier, above the high end of its prior guidance range and the fastest year-over-year growth in the company’s history excluding the years after the pandemic.

That pace accelerated from 16.3% growth in the second quarter and 10.8% in the first. Chief Executive Robert Isom said the company expects another quarter of record revenue growth to close out the year.

The swing in the bottom line was fuel. American paid an average of $3.85 a gallon in the third quarter, lifting fuel expense $1.9 billion, or 67.5%, from the year-ago quarter. GAAP results were a net loss of $269 million, or ($0.41) a share, versus net income of $71 million, or $0.11 a share, in the second quarter. Adjusted net loss was $182 million, or ($0.28) a share. The company said the adjusted loss was only $71 million below the third quarter of 2025 despite the $1.9 billion fuel increase.

Operating income was $115 million, down 23.4% from $151 million a year earlier.

Fares, not volume, carried the top line. Total revenue per available seat mile rose 14.5% year over year. Available seat miles increased 4.2%, while revenue passenger miles rose only 1.0% and passenger load factor fell 2.6 points to 83.4%. Yield was 22.15 cents.

Premium and Main Cabin both stepped up. Premium passenger unit revenue rose 18.5% year over year, after 13.4% growth in the second quarter. Main Cabin passenger unit revenue rose 14.4%, after 8.8%. Premium revenue increased 22.9% and Main Cabin revenue 19.5%. Premium products generate roughly half of ticket revenue on about 30% of seats. The company said a narrowbody retrofit program is expected to lift premium seats on narrowbodies to 40% in coming years, and that a 6-point rise in the upsell rate from Basic Economy to Main Cabin contributed to revenue quality.

Domestic passenger unit revenue rose 13.6% year over year, after 10.6% in the second quarter. International passenger unit revenue rose 16.4%, with the Latin America entity up 21.1%, the Atlantic entity up 14.5% and the Pacific entity up 11.3%.

AAdvantage enrollments increased 27.4% year over year. Managed corporate revenue rose 27.6%, the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

Cost excluding fuel held down. CASM excluding net special items, fuel and profit sharing rose 3.0% year over year, which the company said was the best unit-cost performance among network carriers. Chief Financial Officer Devon May said the company expects to lead the network carriers in the spread between year-over-year unit revenue and CASM-ex growth for the full year. By the end of 2026, American expects nearly $1 billion in annual run-rate savings and more than $900 million in working-capital improvements from multiyear reengineering.

On Oct. 8 the airline said it plans to expand Starlink installation across its entire mainline fleet to more than 1,000 aircraft, after May plans to equip more than 500.

American ended the quarter with $11.8 billion of total available liquidity and more than $26 billion of unencumbered assets and first-lien capacity. It remains committed to a 3.0x net debt to EBITDAR target.

For the fourth quarter, the company expects total revenue growth of 19.5% to 22.5%, available seat miles of +5.5% to +6.5%, CASM-ex of +2.5% to +3.5% and an adjusted loss of ($1.10) to ($0.50) a share. Based on the forward fuel curve as of Oct. 19, it anticipates an average fuel price of about $4.70 a gallon, nearly double the fourth quarter of 2025, with fuel expense expected to increase approximately $2.8 billion versus that year-ago quarter. Full-year 2026 adjusted loss is guided at ($1.60) to ($1.00) a share. Given elevated fuel prices, American expects network growth in 2027 to slow from 2026 levels.