Quarterly Report — Q3 2024
Filed October 10, 2024
Revenue hit ~$15.7 billion for the first nine months of 2024, with Q3 alone driving strong results powered by passenger revenue growth across all regions — domestic, Atlantic, Latin America, and Pacific routes all contributed. The airline continued aggressively paying down debt, chipping away at pandemic-era borrowings including SkyMiles-backed loans and payroll support program obligations, while returning cash to shareholders through dividends and buybacks for the first time since COVID. Premium revenue streams — loyalty programs, travel-related services, and the SkyMiles partnership ecosystem — remain the strategic engine fueling margin expansion beyond basic ticket sales.
Filing details
Performance by segment
Airline
Airline segment operating revenue grew to $42.6 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, up from $41.0 billion in the prior year period. Premium product ticket revenue increased 8% YoY to $15.4 billion for the nine months, while loyalty travel awards revenue rose 10% to $2.8 billion. Total cash sales to American Express reached $5.4 billion for the nine months, up 6% YoY, though operating income declined to $4.2 billion from $3.8 billion (excluding the prior year's $864M pilot agreement charge) due to higher employee costs and the CrowdStrike outage impact of approximately $380 million in lost revenue and $170 million in incremental operating expenses.
“We experienced strong revenue results across the domestic network, with premium revenue growing more than main cabin revenue compared to the prior year period.”
Refinery
The refinery segment posted an operating loss of $(33) million in Q3 2024 versus operating income of $119 million in Q3 2023, and nine-month operating income fell to $76 million from $385 million, primarily driven by lower pricing. The refinery's impact on airline fuel costs swung from a benefit of 11 cents per gallon in Q3 2023 to an incremental cost of 3 cents per gallon in Q3 2024. Third-party refinery sales revenue was $1.1 billion in Q3 2024, up 16% from Q3 2023, but overall segment operating revenue declined to $6.0 billion for the nine months from $6.3 billion.
“The refinery generated lower operating income in the nine months ended September 30, 2024 compared to operating income in the nine months ended September 30, 2023, primarily as a result of lower pricing.”