US airlines fly high after a second quarter of good results

The airlines Americans reported good results in the second quarter, even with historical records for the period, thanks to a strong demand for tickets and international flights in particular.

Delta Airlines posted the best quarterly results in its history, United Airlines tripled its profits, and American Airlines realized a quarter “fantastic”.

All three met or exceeded market expectations, and all three beat their forecasts for 2023.

Good results, nuanced picture

American Airlines tripled its net earnings in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

“I am happy to share with you that it was once again a fantastic quarter”wrote the president of the firm, robert isomin a message to staff at the company, which released its quarterly results on Thursday.

Net profit reached US$1.330 million compared to US$476 million in the second quarter of 2022. Per share, it reached US$1.88, 30 cents above what was expected by analysts.

The airline’s billing increased 4.7% to US$ 14.100 million, also above expectations.

It is the “best quarter in the entire history of the group,” said Isom. “The dynamism continues in July, with the best weekend of the Independence Day of our history”he detailed.

On Wednesday, United Airlines For its part, it reported its results for the second quarter, which far exceeded expectations, with a billing of US$ 14.2 billion, an increase of 17% over the same period in 2022, thanks to a boom in demand for tickets.

But analysts are skeptical for the rest of the year. Edward Moiafrom Oanda, fears that demand will lose steam and that a rise in oil prices will affect results in the second half.

American “had a profit of US$1.3 billion, because travelers were excited this summer (boreal) but the outlook for the rest of the year is not so robust”Moya pointed out in an analysis note in which he explained the 6.16% drop in the firm’s shares on Wall Street yesterday afternoon.

For Christopher Raite, an analyst at Third Bridge, This setback in the stock market can be explained by the stagnation of business trips, which are at 80% of the pre-pandemic level.

According to Raite, 5 to 10% of these trips are “they definitely volatilized” due to the rise of teleworking. “Before the pandemic70% of the (financial) results were generated by these travelers”, stressed.

A week ago, the president of DeltaEd Bastian noted that “consumer demand for air travel remains strong.” Delta remained stable on the stock market this Thursday.

The company expects record billing in the third quarter and the fourth as well “it will be strong”Bastian anticipated to CNBC.

The airlines will have “a strong (boreal) summer, with high prices, since they could not increase their capacities as they wanted” and will therefore have high profitability -in a context of high demand-, explained Christopher Raite.

It is, however, a “summer peak”, remarked.