Washington — American Airlines disclosed that it expects its first quarter total revenue to be down approximately 16% compared to the first quarter of 2019 in a regulatory filing, an improvement on recent guidance that it would be down by 17%.

The company flew 59.5 billion total available seat miles in the first quarter, down 10.7% versus the first quarter of 2019, it said.

The airline expects its first quarter cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding fuel and net special items, to be up between 12% and 13% versus the first quarter of 2019, compared to its previous guidance of up between 11% and 13%.

American Airlines said it expects to end the first quarter with approximately $15.5 billion in total available liquidity.

The company expects to report net special items of approximately $160 million in the first quarter before the effect of taxes.

It noted that net special items principally include a non-cash impairment charge to write down the carrying value of the company's retired Airbus A330 fleet to the estimated fair value due to current market conditions for certain used aircraft.

The company retired its Airbus A330 fleet in 2020 as a result of the decline in demand for air travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

©2022 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.