Airlines notched a strong year in 2012

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NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Two U.S. airlines considering a merger, US Airways and American Airlines, had relatively strong years in 2012, company filings show.

US Airways reported record profits for the year $537 million earned, a jump from $111 million in profits posted in 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

American Airlines, meanwhile, is expected to be the only major U.S. airline to report a loss for the year.

As it works to get out of bankruptcy, however, AA's parent company AMR reported a loss of $130 million on its operations in 2012, which is $932 million better than it did in 2011.

Those figures do not include charges for restructuring. On its balance sheet for operations, "We have made enormous progress toward building the new American," said Tom Horton, chairman and chief executive officer of AMR.

Industry analysts say that 2012 will be the third consecutive year for profits across most of the industry -- a year in which fare prices rose 4 percent and the industry continued to reap huge benefits from new fees for passenger amenities.

For US Airways, revenue per available seat mile rose 3.9 percent with an 82.9 percent of its seats filled over the course of the year, an improvement from 82.3 percent of seating filled in 2011.