(Reuters) -American Airlines forecast on Tuesday a smaller-than-expected adjusted net loss for the third quarter as the U.S. airline hopes to take advantage of holiday season demand from travelers who did not see friends and family last year.
The company’s shares rose 1.1% to $20.36 in premarket trading.
After a strong summer travel season, airlines had to temper their outlook for the quarter through September as the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus slowed down new bookings and drove up cancellations.
However, dipping COVID-19 cases have now raised industry hopes that passengers would be more confident to fly again.
Excluding items, American expects to report a net loss of between $620 million and $675 million in the third quarter. Analysts on average had expected the company to report a loss of $741.7 million.
The U.S. airline expects third-quarter revenue to fall about 25% from 2019, compared with a prior outlook of down between 24% and 28%.
(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru;Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Uttaresh.V)
