DALLAS—American Airlines raised its forecast of fourth-quarter revenue and profit Thursday, boosted by higher fares and full planes capped off with a busy holiday travel period.
American earned $1.12 to $1.17 per share in the fourth quarter, nearly double its previous forecast. Revenue was 16 percent to 17 percent above the same quarter in 2019, before the pandemic.
Shares of the Fort Worth, Texas, company jumped 9.7 percent in their best one-day showing since July. They have surged nearly 37 percent since Dec. 28.
A severe winter storm affected all U.S. airlines before Christmas, but American and most others were able to recover quickly; Southwest was not. Southwest canceled more than 16,000 flights in the last 10 days of December, or 37.5 percent of its schedule, leaving more than 1 million passengers scrambling for new flights including on other airlines….