American Airlines reports dated 24 April show a first-quarter net loss of US$1.04 billion. This compares with a net loss of US$1.56 billion in the same period of 2002. The most recent quarterly results follow a $3.5 billion loss in 2002 for AA, which lies teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Describing the first-quarter results as dreadful, Chief Executive Don Carty is very bleak about the airline?s future. “We are beset on all sides by a struggling economy, the continued uncertainties regarding hostilities in the Middle East, concerns regarding the SARS outbreak, fuel prices that are significantly higher than they were a year ago, and fare levels that are at 30-year lows. All told, it’s a perilous climate and our success is far from assured,” he says in an official statement.
American Airlines is the dominant airline in the Caribbean and for the Dominican Republic.