Losses mount for big airlines

ATLANTA — Three of the nation’s largest airlines reported a combined $911 million in third-quarter losses on Wednesday. The largest by far was at Delta Air Lines Inc., where bankruptcy looms unless it can quickly win concessions from its pilots and debt holders.

Soaring fuel prices were the main culprit for the red ink at AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, Northwest Airlines Corp. and Delta, whose situation also has been exacerbated by the cost of servicing its $20.6 billion in debt. All three reported higher revenue.

Delta said its unrestricted cash reserves fell to $1.45 billion as of Sept. 30 from $2 billion on June 30. The nation’s third-largest carrier said it desperately needs $1 billion in cuts from its pilots and new debt terms from some of its creditors.

Fuel prices, meanwhile, continue to hit the major carriers hard.

“Fuel costs are ultimately going to affect all of the airlines in some way,” said Frank Werner, an industry expert who teaches finance at Fordham University in New York. But “the big carriers are still flailing along searching for the answer, and they don’t have it yet.”

For the three months ending Sept. 30, Atlanta-based Delta said it lost $651 million, or $5.16 a share, compared to a loss of $168 million, or $1.36 a share, in the same period a year ago. Delta said it was affected by the four major hurricanes that hit Florida, a major destination for Delta travelers. Even so, its revenue in the quarter rose 5.9 percent to $3.87 billion.

The quarterly loss at AMR of Fort Worth, Texas, whose American unit is the nation’s largest carrier, was $214 million, or $1.33 per share; a year earlier it posted a $1 million profit. Revenue rose 3.3 percent to $4.76 billion, but that was below the $4.81 billion forecast by analysts. Chief executive Gerard Arpey said American would take steps to raise revenue and cut costs, including job cuts and a 5 percent reduction in the airline’s capacity by the first quarter of next year. He offered no details on layoffs.