American Airlines posts $950 million second-quarter profit

FORT WORTH, Texas – American Airlines said its second-quarter net income dropped 44 percent to $950 million as the carrier put aside half a billion dollars to pay income taxes.

The Fort Worth-based carrier said revenues also declined 4.3 percent to $10.36 billion for the quarter, citing growing competition on domestic and international routes.

The carrier’s fuel costs dropped 25.5 percent as the airline paid $1.41 per gallon for the quarter. It also cut its operating costs by 4.6 percent.

“These strong second-quarter results are the result of the hard work by our people to improve every aspect of our airline,” said American chief executive Doug Parker in a statement.

American also announced it is deferring the delivery of the 22 Airbus A350 aircraft it has on order. The carrier was supposed to receive its first A350 in the spring of 2017 but with the new agreement it will receive two A350s in late 2018 and then five A350s each year after that until 2022.