American Airlines profit falls on higher operating expenses

[January 25, 2018]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Airlines <AAL.O> on Thursday said its quarterly profit fell by $31 million from a year ago, as operating expenses swelled on the back of higher labor and fuel costs.

An American Airlines Boeing 757 aircraft takes off at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy, France, August 9, 2016. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen/File Photo

American, the No. 1 U.S. carrier by passenger traffic, reported fourth-quarter net profit of $258 million, or 54 cents per share, compared with $289 million, or 56 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier's operating expenses climbed 9.8 percent from a year earlier to $9.9 billion, due to a 23.5 percent jump in consolidated fuel expenses and a 7 percent increase in salaries and benefits.

In 2017, American stunned investors by offering its pilots and flight attendants an unsolicited mid-contract pay increase that is set to cost $350 million each year in both 2018 and in 2019.

(Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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