American Airlines (AAL) shares dropped early Wednesday after lowering its outlook for the second quarter, while the air carrier said its chief commercial officer will depart next month.
The company now expects per-share adjusted earnings to be in a range of $1 to $1.15 for the ongoing three-month period, down from its prior guidance for $1.15 to $1.45, it said in a late Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The consensus on Capital IQ is for normalized EPS of $1.21. The stock fell more than 6% in recent premarket activity.
Total revenue per available seat mile, which is commonly used in the airline industry to measure efficiency, is now pegged to decline by roughly 5% to 6% on a yearly basis. The carrier previously forecast the metric to be down about 1% to 3% in the second quarter. Cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel, is set to be flat to up 1% versus initial expectations for a 1% to 3% increase.
In the previous quarter, American Airlines swung to an adjusted loss of $0.34 a share from earnings of $0.05 the year before. Total revenue per available seat mile slipped 4.9% while cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel, grew 2.3%.
During a conference call in April to discuss first-quarter results, Chief Financial Officer Devon May told analysts the company aimed to increase capacity at 7% to 9% annually in the current period mainly through improvements in aircraft utilization. “Our capacity growth will slow considerably in the back half of the year, and we continue to expect to produce mid-single-digit capacity growth for the full year,” May said at the time, according to a Capital IQ transcript.
In a separate statement, the airline said Vasu Raja will leave as chief commercial officer in June, having served in the role since April 2022. Chief Strategy Officer Stephen Johnson will become in charge of the airline’s commercial organization, effective immediately, in addition to his current responsibilities. Johnson will also help lead the company’s search process for a new chief commercial officer.
Fellow air carrier United Airlines (UAL), meanwhile, reiterated its adjusted EPS outlook for the second quarter at $3.75 to $4.25, while the Street is looking for $4.02. In the March quarter, the company recorded an adjusted loss of $0.15 per share, narrowing from $0.63 a year earlier.
United Airlines’ shares were down 1.5% in Wednesday’s premarket activity.