American Airlines Reports Load Factor Increase In May, Shares Gain

Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. rose 0.5% in premarket trade Friday, after the air carrier reported May load factor that increased, as traffic growth outpaced a rise in capacity. Load factor increased to 82.1% from 81.9% a year ago, while rivals United Continental Holdings Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. reported load factor declines. Traffic on American flights increased 2.6% to 19.9 billion revenue passenger miles, while capacity rose 2.3% to 24.3 billion available seat miles. American affirmed its second-quarter outlook for total revenue per available seat mile of an increase of 3.5% to 5.5%. The stock has climbed 10% year to date through Thursday, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has gained 5.9% and the S&P 500 has advanced 8.7%.