American Airlines on Thursday warned of a potential financial loss in the third quarter of 2025 and issued cautious, wide-ranging full-year guidance to replace the forecast it pulled in April amid uncertainty over U.S.-imposed tariffs.
The carrier said it now expects a third-quarter loss between 10 cents and 60 cents per diluted share. For the full year, results per share could be anywhere between a 20 cent loss and an 80 cent profit.
“The company believes the top end of the range is achievable if demand in the domestic market continues to strengthen and only expects to be at the bottom end of the range if there were to be macro weaknesses that are not seen today,” the airline said in a statement.
Like rivals United and Delta, American said it sees some green shoots as demand for air travel slowly stabilizes. Unlike its competitors, however, American seemed to weigh more heavily the possibility that reduced demand from earlier this year could continue to hurt earnings, or that broader global trends could once again upset the industry’s expectations.
“July’s been tough,” CEO Robert Isom said on an earnings call Thursday morning. “Really hit hard by the uncertainty during the primary booking period for those that wanted to travel in July.”
“There’s a lot to go and good reason to have a lot of optimism for some of the trends that we’re seeing going from July into August and September and into the fourth quarter,” he continued. “But also, look, we’ve had a lot of volatility in the business so far and we want to be mindful of that as we forecast as well.”
Still, American officials said they’re optimistic that improved customer service, increased premium offerings, and new international routes will help the airline regain its momentum.
American’s second-quarter results were roughly in line with industry expectations. The carrier reported net income of $599 million, or 91 cents per diluted share, down from $717 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2024. Operating revenue moved up slightly from $14.33 billion to $14.39 billion over the same interval.
