In the midst of their $11B merger, with US Airways, American Airline's parent company, AMR, said on Thursday that "it saw a glimmer of an $8 million profit in the first three months of this year," according to USA Today.
However, that profit did not count the costs associated with the restructuring that the company is currently undergoing after filing for bankruptcy nearly two years ago and it merger issues.
In all, the reorganization and special charges amounted to $349 million and that gashed the profit number significantly.
But, according to USA Today, "American's officials touted the first-quarter returns as proof that the struggling airline has turned the corner."
"For the first time in six years, we produced a first-quarter profit, excluding reorganization items and special charges,'' Tom Horton, AMR's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "And the momentum is building.''
If the aforementioned merger deal with US Airways is approved by federal regulators, it will make the new American the largest airline in the world based on revenue and the number of passengers it carries.
"The combination will also level the playing field, allowing American to better compete against its similarly mega-sized peers, United and Delta. The new American will have more than 6700 flights a day to 336 destinations across the globe, with particular strengths in the northeastern U.S., and on routes crossing the Atlantic and stretching into Latin America," stated USA Today.
Once American completes the bankruptcy process, the merger is expected to be done by the fall.
According to Doug Parker, the current US Airways CEO and the future CEO of the combined company, "It [US Airways merger/takeover with/of American Airlines) will be better for customers, certainly better for the employees of the two airlines and better for the communities we serve."
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