Company Watch - American Airlines.

For more company news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Jul 24, 2006

American Airlines has unveiled its Next-Generation Business Class at the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) International Convention & Exposition held last week in Chicago and will start outfitting aircraft from September onwards. The only major US carrier not to go into voluntary receivership in recent times, the OneWorld member is in a strong position to invest in a strategy of investment in its long haul routes, top quality cabin comfort being seen as an essential requirement. Earmarked initially for the transatlantic services as well as on select routes within the United States and to Latin America the new Boeing 767-300 business class is designed to give passengers more comfort, flexibility and privacy. It features novel, innovative, lie-flat seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, a personal in-flight entertainment system with audio and video on demand, state-of-the-art lighting and ergonomically designed overhead bins. Beginning in 2007, American will also install its new Next-Generation Business Class on its Boeing 777 fleet. At the same time American will install its award-winning Flagship Suite First Class seats on all of its Boeing 777 aircraft that do not currently feature the product. http://www.aa.com Jul 22, 2006

American Airlines said it filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation to operate daily Dallas/Fort Worth-Beijing service from March 25 aboard a 245-seat 777. Jul 21, 2006

American Airlines executives said they were "pleased" with the high quarterly earnings following years of steep losses but warned that the carrier still faces significant "obstacles" to reach consistent profitability. "Fuel costs continue to raise the bar in terms of revenue generation, while the growth of low-cost carriers and continuing competition from bankrupt carriers with significant cost advantages drive the need for increased efficiencies and cost savings across all areas of our business," Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said. Arpey also said the airline is on track to achieve another $700 million in annual savings this year and is continuing to search for ways to cut costs. "We obviously have a lot more work to do," he told analysts in a conference call yesterday. As part of ongoing efforts to reduce costs, AA will return 19 leased 757s it inherited in its 2001 buyout of TWA's assets when the planes' leases expire in 2008 and 2009, Arpey announced. American Airlines second-quarter revenues were $4.7 billion, 10.7% above the $4.3 billion for the year-ago quarter. Expenses increased 12.5% to $6 billion from $5.3 billion, with fuel costs jumping 26.5% to $1.7 billion from $1.3 billion last year. Operating income totaled $476 million, more than doubling operating income of $229 million in the year-ago period. Jul 20, 2006

American Airlines mainline RPMs increased 3% to 36.8 billion as capacity dropped 0.9% to 44.6 billion ASMs. Second-quarter mainline load factor rose 3.1 points to 82.6%. Yield grew 7.6% to 12.81 cents, RASM was up 11.7% to 10.58 cents and CASM rose 8.5% to 10.85 cents. Jul 20, 2006

American posts best result in more than five years. American Airlines parent AMR Corp. earned $291 million in the second quarter ended June 30, widened from a profit of $58 million in the same period last year and only the carrier's second profitable quarter in the last 5.5 years. Jul 20, 2006

American Airlines will switch from a 767 to a 777 on its second daily Miami-Buenos Aires flight starting Sept. 6. It already operates one 777 on the route daily. It also will switch from a 767 to a 777 on its daily New York JFK-Buenos Aires flight from Oct. 29 to April 2, when it will revert back to a 767. Jul 19, 2006

U.S. airlines are shifting their battle for customers from coach to business class. American Airlines is revamping the business-class sections on its long-haul jets, adding lie-flat seats and individual entertainment centers to better compete with carriers that already offer similar creature comforts. The makeover is complete on one plane used mostly on trans-Atlantic flights, and American plans to retrofit business cabins in its Boeing 767-300 and Boeing 777 aircraft over the next year or so. Don't expect American will be alone. As the low-fare war for budget travelers seems to wind down or be on hold, major airlines are increasingly reaching out to those who prefer high-end service. The largest U.S. carriers - those that fly international and transcontinental routes - have been devoting their resources to in-flight luxuries such as more leg room, better entertainment and fully reclining seats in first- and business-class cabins. Jul 18, 2006

American Airlines announced a redesigned business-class section on its 767-300s and 777s that includes lie-flat seats, personal inflight entertainment systems and other features that many of its competitors already have implemented on long-haul service. AA has installed the changes on one 767-300 and plans to complete the revamp on its remaining 57 dash 300s and begin retrofits of its 777 business cabins early next year. "Our business class passengers can now fly more comfortably, work more productively and enjoy the flight with expanded entertainment features and dining options," said Senior VP-Global Sales David Cush. American's 767-300s are operated on most of its transatlantic services as well as on select routes within the US and to Latin America. The 777s are flown to London, Japan, China, India and select cities in Latin America. Jul 18, 2006

American explains new booking fee policy. American Airlines says it will not charge travel agencies a fee for bookings that agents make through "competitive booking sources." The airline says those sources include G2 SwitchWorks, Farelogix, an optional Galileo/Apollo program and Worldspan "Optional Product 1." American recently announced it will charge $3.50 per segment for tickets booked through some services. Jul 18, 2006

American adding new perks to business class on some planes. American Airlines will add almost "lie-flat" seats and individual entertainment centers to the business class section of its long-haul airliners. "We started thinking about this in 2000," says Jim Hadden, American's manager of cabin design. Jul 17, 2006

American, Southwest also want break on fuel tax. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines want the same breaks on fuel taxes that Chicago and Illinois have offered United Airlines. United recently agreed to keep its headquarters in Chicago. "We think the presumption is it would be unfair, and probably discriminatory, to affect the jet-fuel taxes of one carrier and not another," an American spokeswoman says. Jul 21, 2006

Aviation Partners flying high on more winglet sales. Aviation Partners Boeing continues to rack up big sales of its Blended Winglet Systems here. American Airlines ordered an additional 104 757 shipsets, adding to the 20 it ordered last September. Installation will be performed at American's Tulsa MRO base. Jul 20, 2006