FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- American Airlines says it will spend $1 billion more on fuel this year due to higher prices, which will affect its prospects for the rest of the year.
The Fort Worth-based airline also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing its third-quarter unit revenue would be down slightly from last year, reflecting lower average fares, The Dallas Morning News reported Friday.
AMR Corp., American's parent company, has lost $160 million in the first half of 2004, despite concessions from unions last year that amounted to $1.6 billion a year.
The world's largest air carrier is expected to lose more than $300 million this year, according to analysts surveyed by First Call/Thompson Financial.
Darryl Jenkins, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told the News the combination of higher fuel costs and lower fares is hurting most airlines.
"I have never seen as weak a revenue environment as we currently have," he said.
Fuel costs made up 18.9 percent of American's operating expenses in the first half of 2004 compared to 15.2 percent in all of 2003 and 12.3 percent in 2002.
