American Airlines Reports Big Quarterly Losses

American Airlines reported a net loss of $92 million in the first quarter of 2006, as compared to a net loss of $162 million in the first quarter of 2005. First quarter 2005 results included a benefit of $69 million related to certain excise tax refunds.

For the quarter, American´s passenger revenue per available seat mile was up 10.8 percent year over year.

American´s load factor –or percentage of seats filled- for the first quarter was 77.2 percent, up 1.8 points over the first quarter of 2005, while yield, representing average fares, was up 8.2 percent.

AA ended the quarter with $4.8 billion in cash and short-term investments, including a restricted balance of $510 million.