American Airlines' jet fuel bill rises $440 million: American, parent plan to spend $440 million more than estimated

June 25, 2007

Jun. 23--American Airlines Inc. and parent AMR Corp. told investors Friday that they expect to spend about $440 million more on jet fuel this year than they anticipated in March.

In a quarterly update to investors, the Fort Worth-based company projected that American and regional carrier American Eagle will pay an average of $2.12 per gallon to buy 3.1 billion gallons of fuel, or $6.59 billion.

In its previous update on March 19, American was looking at an average price of $1.98 per gallon, or $6.15 billion.

American and other airlines have been revising their estimates upward as jet fuel has followed the rising price of crude oil and other refined products. When AMR released first-quarter earnings April 18, it had already upped the 2007 fuel estimate to $2.09 a gallon.

Excluding the rising cost of fuel, AMR and American did not change their 2007 estimates for unit costs. AMR predicted its expenses per seat per mile will be 11.76 cents, up 0.25 cents from the March projections because of fuel. American said its costs per mile will be 11.14 cents, up 0.24 cents due to fuel.

In their filings Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AMR and American said they expect unit revenue in the second quarter to increase between 3 percent and 4 percent for American, and between 2.2 percent and 3.2 percent including both American and American Eagle.

AMR shares fell 46 cents Friday to $26.75.

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