American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) shares were flying slightly higher in pre-market trade in New York after the carrier upgraded its total revenue per available seat mile for the fourth quarter.
AA said it expects TRASM – a key industry metric – to rise by between 5-6% in the fourth quarter, ahead of previous guidance of between 2.5-4.5%, thanks to higher-than-expected domestic bookings.
Coupled with that is a slight fall in fourth quarter consolidated cost per available seat mile (CASM), which the company said is likely to be up by around 4% year-over-year.
That’s down on previous guidance and is largely a result of salary and benefits increases given to pilots and cabin crew.
For 2017 as a whole, CASM is expected to have increased by around 5.5%. And the group is in for a modest boost to its numbers thanks to President Trump’s tax reform in the form of a special, US$10mln non-cash credit.
The shares rose 1.1% in pre-market trading.