American Airlines Q3 2026 Earnings: Record Revenue, Unhedged Fuel and a Wider Loss Forecast

American Airlines reported record third-quarter revenue of $16.3 billion on Thursday, October 22, and still lost money, because its fuel bill rose $1.9 billion from a year earlier. The adjusted loss of $0.28 a share was smaller than the $0.33 analysts expected, but American now forecasts an adjusted loss of $1.00 to $1.60 a share for 2026, against a July range of a $0.65 loss to a $0.65 profit.

The results reached the MoveSurge news feed at 07:00:03 ET with the stock at $12.17 in premarket trading. One minute later it traded at $11.75, down 3.45%. Ten minutes after the headline it was at $11.93, down 1.97%, and the chart on this page ends at 07:15 ET with the stock at $11.90, 2.22% below the level at the headline. At 10:24 ET the stock was at $12.59, up 2.86% from Wednesday's close, according to Yahoo Finance. That put it above the $12.17 it traded at when the results came out. Delta and United were up 1.83% and 1.40% at the same time, so the rebound was not American's alone.

Why the loss got bigger: American does not hedge fuel

American's quarterly report to the SEC says it had no fuel hedging contracts outstanding on September 30, 2026, so it pays the market price for jet fuel. The filing estimates that each one-cent rise in the price of a gallon adds about $45 million to its fuel expense for 2026. In the third quarter American paid an average of $3.85 a gallon, against $2.37 a year earlier and the $3.75 it had assumed in July. Fuel expense rose 67.5% to $4,635 million.

For the fourth quarter American assumes about $4.70 a gallon, based on futures prices on October 19. That would raise fuel costs by about $2.8 billion from a year earlier, and American now expects its 2026 fuel bill to be more than $7 billion above 2025's. Chief executive Robert Isom said on the call that the jump in fuel prices "more than offset" the strength in revenue.

Revenue was a record

Revenue rose 19.3%, above the top of American's own forecast of growth of 16% to 19%. Passenger revenue rose 19.5% to $14,900 million. Premium cabin revenue rose 22.9% and main cabin revenue rose 19.5%. Isom said premium cabins bring in about half of ticket revenue from about 30% of seats. Sign-ups to the AAdvantage loyalty program rose 27.4%, and spending on the co-branded Citi credit card rose nearly 10%.

What changed in the forecast

For the fourth quarter American expects capacity, measured in available seat miles, to grow 5.5% to 6.5% and revenue to rise 19.5% to 22.5% from a year earlier. It forecast an adjusted loss of $0.50 to $1.10 a share. American said its network will grow more slowly in 2027 than in 2026 because of fuel prices, and management said on the call that the first step would be flying its planes fewer hours a day. Chief commercial officer Nat Pieper said American hopes to finish an order for widebody jets this year to replace its Boeing 777-200 fleet.

American ended the quarter with $11.8 billion of available liquidity and net debt of $28,079 million. On the call it said it expects net debt of about $30.5 billion at the end of the year.

How the stock moved through the morning

The first headline, at 07:00:03 ET, carried only the adjusted EPS figure. A second, at 07:03:30 ET, added revenue and the fourth-quarter forecast with the stock at $11.70, and over the next ten minutes the stock rose 1.54% to $11.88 on volume about nine times normal.